ASUO Update
Whoa, it’s Tuesday already, and I realized I hadn’t made my ASUO update.
Good call on the move for a paperless Senate. Working with programs, I know how crappy it can be to have to make 21 copies of every thing firsthand.
From my understanding, ADFC is being renamed the ACFC (Athletics and Contracts Finance Commitee) and will handle contracts, which are currently done by PFC (?). I’m not clear on the implications of it, but the decision to go forward with it seems pretty set, so it’s not like my opinion matters anyways.
Sen. Jones challenged MSA on womens’ issues in Islam when they made a special request for an event. While her concerns about women and Islam are valid, she took personal opinions and placed them in front of the fact that what may not seem right to us as Americans are norms for another culture. Exploring one’s personal concerns over another culture or religion is important, but not as a Senator.
The Akha guy came in again to speak on behalf of the indigenous Akha people that are being persecuted in Thailand and Burma. His efforts are valiant in what they are trying to accomplish, but I don’t know what he hopes for the ASUO Senate to do.
Making my own request from the VFSA, I was surprised that none of the Senators questioned me. I appreciated how fast the process was approved, but I definitely expected more of a discussion on spending $530 for a banner.
After watching and making Special Requests in front of Senate, I was given the impression that wrangling money from them is easy. Well, it is, but not as universally as I imagined. When APS came in front of Senate to request money because of some budgeting mistake last year, Sen. Brown and Trippe rightly questioned the usage of Special Requests to circumvent the general budgeting process. Regardless of the importance of the program and the situation that they are in, surplus funds are not meant to fulfill what PFC should do. Two of the four Special Requests by APS were tabled indefinitely, as per the unofficial advice from Sen. Gulley (vehemently waving his hands for the APS rep. to not retract her request).
A few changes to Senate rules: Senate President is now allowed to put last-minute special requests on agendas. He/she will also be allowed to make vacant committee appointments after week 3.
After Special Requests, Sen. Brown announced his resignation, due to a job he got in Belgium. My guess is that his position, PFC Seat #2, will be filled by an Exec. appointment.
Based on the fact that in the past the ADFC Members have been the most “sane ” of the ASUO bunch, maybe this is a good thing…
Currently, the ASUO has contracts with a few different groups, who in exchange for a portion of student fees, provide a service to students. Some may like to read this “service”, depending on how they feel about a particular group. (OSPIRG, SASS, LTD, are a few organizations who provide services through a contract.) Currently the budgets for these groups are contained in the PFC budget, and are thus initially voted on by PFC senators in the budget process, but the contracts are initially negotiated by the Exec. They are treated somewhat differently from regular student groups (MeCHA, Chess club, etc) in that during the budgeting process, their restrictions on potential growth are not necessarily the same as your average student group. While student groups may be restricted to no more than, say, a 3% increase, (as decided in the benchmarking process) Contracts may be eligible to receive more or less money, depending on what model is passed by the Senate at the beginning of the year. This switch seems to indicate that these negotiations will be handled by Senators, rather than the President, VP, and their advisors.
Currently, even if a Contract’s budget is passed by the full Senate through the regular budget process, the Executive still has final say over the amount that is given to that group through the contract. Since the ASUO President currently has to sign each contract that is negotiated, the President, if they so desired, could negotiate a lesser amount than what any contracted group was actually allocated by the Senate. The Senate’s allocation, therefore, is currently only a ceiling for an allocation. If an ASUO President so desired, they could currently veto any contract simply by never signing it. Surely this would fly in the face of the process, but it would be allowed. This proposed process might not change that, as someone still has to sign each contract for it to be valid, and the most logical person to do that would be the President, as they are the chief executive in the executive arm of the student government. It would, however, create more work for ADFC Senators (or perhaps soon, ACFC Senators) and create less work for the Exectutive (as they wouldn’t have to spend all that time negotiating), although any Executive worth the 12-16% turnout that got them into office isn’t going to turn a blind eye to a part of the process that sucks up such a significant part of the total student amount of student fees collected, and will have their own ideas about how much student dough is getting dolled out to non-student groups.
Sorry, Sean, I’m kind of out of the loop. What’s VFSA again?
Rennie’s got a plug on ESPN:
And when thirsty in Eugene, The Dash recommends a pint of local microbrew Mirror Pond Pale Ale at Rennie’s (40), a classic college joint near campus. The Rennie’s Lemonade came highly recommended and wasn’t bad — but this is a beer-centric column. Get your fruity drinks — even ones with about four types of alcohol mixed in — elsewhere.
Go Rennie’s!