At first, the turnout seemed promising, especially since the results for all-council outreach week’s college council competition from last week were announced, with ERC in first place.

But it turns out that some members of the public weren’t involved with college councils.

“My father told me to never say no to free food or free beer,” Muir College transfer  student Hiten Shah said. That definitely explains it then.

Other attendees included people like Revelle College senior Nolan Weber, who came with a purpose. Weber felt that the music selection at the most recent Bear Garden was unacceptable.

“For God’s sake, we’re a university,” he said. “’Fill me with your poison, I want to be a victim, ready for abduction.’ What is this, ‘have sex with me and you own me?’”

Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Mac Zilber reported that the Zanzibar Café has approved the “Loft with a Prof” program. This will basically be a more casual Dine with a Prof  — a program through council that allows students to take their professors to lunch at the Faculty club for free — at Zanzibar Café.

President Alyssa Wing presented a much-anticipated update on the progress of moving UCSD into Division I athletics.

“Since we are already at the top of D-II, it’s a natural progression in our pursuit of excellence to move to D-I,” she said.

The referendum, which will be presented to council for a vote on Nov. 30, will include a $165-per-quarter fee increase to students. This will help fund the scholarships, coaches and support staff, among
other things, necessary to remaining competitive in the Big West Division I conference.

Many councilmembers were excited at the prospect of moving to Division 1.

“Think of athletics as an investment,” Engineering Senator Parminder Sandhu said. “It took a lot of courage to move from D-III to D-II, and now we need to be brave an make the jump to D-I.”

Not everyone was supportive of the referendum, however.

“I personally work three part-time jobs to afford college, and there are tons of people dropping out because they can’t afford it,” Associate Vice President of Student Organizations Lynne Swerhone said.
“Let’s take a couple of seconds here and just think about what we’re doing.”

Remember, council, passing the referendum only opens it to student vote. If you shut it down, your constituents will not have the opportunity to make their own decision.