ASUA to vote on official CatCard denouncement

Former Senate candidate Travis Klein and senator-elect Marisa Hall, who drew up the declaration blasting the CatCard, will ask the Senate to adopt it on behalf of the Associated Students.

Including lines like, "This ASUA senate issues this resolution in full denouncement of the precipitous institution of the CatCard," the resolution calls for a division between the University of Arizona and businesses and asks for a re-examination and further evaluation of the university's new universal ID card.

Students and university employees last month lashed out at the UA administration for releasing their Social Security numbers to MCI Telecommunications Corp. and Saguaro Credit Union, whose services can be linked to the CatCard.

University officials later admitted the university violated state and federal law by releasing the information. Some students, faculty and staff have since denounced the entire concept of the CatCard, saying it is an unnecessary connection to corporate interests and carries too much personal information on its magnetic stripe and embedded memory chip.

Hall said the proposal embodies the frustration many UA students are feeling, and she hopes the Senate will take a stand.

"These are the kinds of issues I think ASUA needs to address," said Hall, a junior studying Spanish and history.

The Senate is also expected to vote on proposals by Sen. Cisco Aguilar and Administrative Vice President-elect Ryan Rosensteel, who is currently a club advocate.

Rosensteel's idea would redirect some longtime Senate projects, such as the Associated Students/Residence Hall Association Basketball League that Sen. Morgan Long headed this year, to a new service called the Community Development program.

But some members, like Sen. Summer Katzenbach, who ran this year's Big Event, ASUA's annual community clean-up day, said the Senate needs answers before voting to relinquish that portion of its power.

Before Rosensteel's proposal was presented to the Senate at its April 8 meeting, Katzenbach said she supported the idea .

"I am definitely in favor," Katzenbach said that afternoon. "Our job is not to run on other people's projects," she added, referring to four Senate candidates who used the Big Event in their campaigns but neglected to participate in it or call her for input.

But after hearing the proposal, Katzenbach suggested it be put through a one-semester trial period before being engraved in ASUA's constitution.

The Senate is prepared to vote on another proposal, created by Aguilar, to increase the number of club advocates from three to six.

While some in ASUA support the plan, others, including current club advocates, question its benefits.

Tracie Irwin, one of this year's three club advocates, said she thinks her team worked well together.

"I don't think there's enough work that another three people would need to do," said Irwin, a speech and hearing sciences junior.

And Club Advocate John Sahid said he agreed with Irwin's concerns about time management.

"Is a Web master really going to take up 20 hours a week?" said Sahid, a business, economics and finance junior, referring to Aguilar's idea to have the club advocates maintain various ASUA responsibilities.

The Senate will also vote on other bylaw changes that will give ASUA executives a lump-sum budget to work with instead of budgets with itemized amounts for specific programs.

Executives would have the ability to disperse funds to areas of their choice with the lump-sum style, instead of being forced to allocate funds in specific directions based on a budget passed by the Senate.

The Senate meets tonight at 6 p.m. in the Memorial Student Union Tucson Room.