News:

EUGENE – The ASUO Senate moved two steps closer to full membership last night as three newcomers were confirmed as members of the body during its regular meeting in the EMU Walnut Room. With the Executive appointing Kerry Snodgrass to Seat Three (Programs Finance Committee) and Lamar Wise to Seat 10 (Department Finance Committee) and the Senate selecting Christian Erichsen to fill the “Freshman Senator” Seat, only one vacancy (Seat 12: Architecture and Allied Arts) stands between the Senate and its second full roster this year.

After dispensing with special requests at the beginning of the meeting, the Senate quickly moved to Snodgrass’s confirmation. Sen. Laura Hinman pointed out the need for PFC to fill out its ranks, and Sen. Zachary Stark-MacMillan states  “I’m really impressed with your experience within the ASUO already.”

Snodgrass fielded questions on viewpoint neutrality and diversity, saying that diversity “is coming at an issue with different perspectives.” After limited discussion, she was confirmed unanimously.

Wise, appointed to the open DFC Seat, was also confirmed easily. Wise has been a regular at the Senate’s meetings thus far this year, a point which did not go unnoticed by Sen. Brianna Woodside-Gomez, who said that “we see you as a very dedicated individual.”

Wise’s hearing was not without some conflict. Hinman noted that she thought that more qualified candidates were available and that, while she did not consider Wise unqualified, she also didn’t think he was the right choice. She announced that she would abstain from voting on the confirmation, which was unanimously passed.

After the meeting, she told the Commentator that she had discussed the matter with ASUO President Amelie Rousseau. “President Rousseau thought he was the most appropriate choice for this body. I respect her decision, but disagree,” Hinman said.

Erichsen, candidate to be the very first Freshman Senator was presented to the body by Sens. Max Barkley, Hinman, Blake Sedgley, and Evan Thomas. Erichsen said that as an out-of-state student, he felt he could effectively represent the needs of what he described as a large out-of-state contingent within the freshman class. He also summarized his stance on viewpoint neutrality by saying he would assess programs “based on the content of their programs not the color of their pamphlet.”

Questions arose during the hearing over the definition behind the Constitutional requirement that the Freshman Senator be an “intern.” Sen. Chris Bocchicchio suggested that he would seek an opinion from the Constitutional Court as to the meaning of the term. He later confirmed this to the Commentator, saying “We can debate it all we want but Con Court has the final say. They’ll be hearing from me soon.” In the interim, the Senate was impressed with Erichsen’s qualifications, and approved him unanimously. After a brief series of officer and committee reports, and a short discussion of public records custodianship, the meeting was adjourned.

Stats:

Meeting Duration: 122 minutes (one recess)

Money allocated from Surplus: $14,007

Not Present: Lange, Schally

Resignation Count: Six

Opinion:

You’re probably wondering why I didn’t mention a $14,000 special request in the news story. Its because a) it makes sense to me (helping students help a good cause is about as close to “development” as I’ve seen programs get in awhile, b) it was approved unanimously and c) the appointments are a bigger deal.

Only one member of the ASUO intern class, run by the Executive, applied to be the Freshman Senator. That was Lamar Wise, who became a “real” Senator instead. I’m down for that; the guy has been to more Senate meetings that I have and seems to have it fairly well squared away. He’s eager to get involved and be active; I’d be more than willing to bet that he will either be Senate President or just regular President at some point in the future, probably after I’m gone.

But when it comes to the definition of “intern,” its kind of insane that the matter was not settled before someone whose credentials as an “intern,” are not iron clad was appointed to the seat. Sen. Brian Powell tried to make a point about the issue, but was shot down. Bocchicchio said he was going to ask the Con Court, as he should. Con Court approved the wording of the constitutional amendment, which was painfully, horrifyingly vague; they owe it to the rest of us to sort this mess out.

In all honesty, I don’t think they’re going to allow the Senate to “create” an intern program out of thin air. If this issue sees the Con Court, and if they rule that the only “interns” are the Exec’s intern program interns, I see little outcome other than Erichsen, qualified for the job as he may be, getting unceremoniously tossed. There was concern that failing to appoint a “Freshman Senator” would be a violation of the Green Tape Notebook, to which I would reply that I highly doubt that anyone is going to file a grievance against the Senate for not filling a seat that they (meaning both Senate and Con Court) are still trying to determine a definition of eligibility for.

I don’t think this whole Freshman Senator mess is over, and, for the sake of clarity and the rule of law, I don’t think it should be. At any rate, I still think the Freshman class will be best represented by Wise, not because I think Erichsen will be an ineffective advocate, but because Wise has a finance seat and a vote, of which Erichsen has neither.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 03:24 by Rockne Andrew Roll and is filed under ASUO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.