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Senate meeting: ASI talks inclusive beauty services

Secretary of Cultural Affairs Victoria Villa announced Wednesday in her report to the weekly Senate meeting that she is working with members of Associated Students, Inc. Senate and the Muslim Student Association to have more inclusive practices at Elektric Hair Salon in the University Student Union.

To establish privacy for hijab-wearing women, Villa hopes to work with Elektric to establish scheduled specialized hair appointments for them, so people won’t see these women with their hair out. Culturally, Muslim women often wear the headscarf as a symbol of modesty and privacy within their faith and it is considered inappropriate for men outside of their immediate family and strangers to see them without the hijab.

Villa said she has heard stories where Muslim women have gone through various ways to conceal their hair when getting it done.

“Some women have to get their hair done in the basement,” Villa said. “[Others,] in the middle of getting their hair dyed or cut have to immediately cover it, regardless, as soon as someone comes in the salon.”

In addition, she is advocating for halal nail polish, which allows Muslim women to pray while wearing the product. Before prayer, Muslims purify themselves by washing their arms, hands and nails. This type of nail polish allows water to pass through the polish and cleanse the nails, thus making it permissible to wear while in prayer.

“We are working with ASI Senate members and MSA to make sure [the university] has an inclusive environment,” Villa said.

Cal State Long Beach’s President’s Designee Jeff Klaus swore in two new senators for the College of the Arts and the College of Engineering, respectively.

Anna Jane Murphy, the newly appointed senator for CLA, said in her confirmation speech that she would work to fix the art buildings, specifically Fine Arts 4, which has ceiling issues. She said she would help the maintenance of the building through fundraising and dialogue with the relevant campus officials.

The new senator for the COE, Jordan Doering, cited similar infrastructure issues that needed fixing in the engineering buildings.

“Every time I talk to engineering students, they urge me to help them out with the buildings,” Doering said.

But structure problems didn’t stop there.

Senator of the College of Health and Human Services Joe Nino said a student concern was infrastructure issues in the department’s building.

“It was flooded with all the heavy rain and leaky ceilings,” Nino said. “The carpets had lice and mold.”

Also, Senator-at-large Daniel Gomez motioned to only approve the second reading of Senate Resolution 2017-17, formerly known as the O.P.P. Resolution, instead of passing it today.

“The last thing that the authors of the resolution want is to make it about the title instead of the actual topic,” Gomez said.

Gomez said that the new name of the resolution and the addition of 65th District Assemblyperson Sharon Quirk Silva’s Assembly Bill No. 393 as reasons to amend the third reading at the meeting. The bill requires that the tuition cost and mandatory systemwide fees not be increased until the end of the 2019-20 academic year.

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