In mid-November, the EMU referendum passed with 54 percent of the vote, but all could be for naught if the latest grievance proves to be successful.
Lucero Castañeda@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Lucero/65397@@ filed a grievance against ASUO President Laura Hinman, @@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Laura*Hinman@@arguing the latest referendum was put together in a biased and unconstitutional fashion. She cites that four ASUO Executive members, including Hinman, sat on the EMU Task Force, a group that was formed with the intention to pass the EMU vote.
To further her point, she pointed out that Nick McCain,@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12#toc28@@ the ASUO vice president and a member of the EMU Task Force, had written an article for The Register-Guard where he expressed support for the EMU renovation @@checked@@and explained the reasons for hiring a strategic marketing firm @@checked@@to help pass the student vote.
Castañeda also suggested Hinman used her position to further the EMU referendum.
“(Hinman) advocated for the renovation of the EMU in her capacity as ASUO President, prior to the EMU referendum,” Castañeda wrote in her grievance. “The facts presented so far clearly show that (Hinman) was biased in favor of the expansion of the EMU, in a manner that extended far beyond a mere personal opinion.”
In a recent article, ASUO Public Relations Director Brian Bradley@@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Brian*Bradley@@ said the executive was proud of “running an unbiased, informational EMU Referendum campaign.“@@checked@@
Castañeda wasn’t convinced.
“Campus outreach during the week of the referendum disproportionately targeted Greek life,”@@left ‘life’ lower-case due to quote from written statement@@ she wrote. “No student union or other student group with space in the EMU was notified of the referendum, yet several fraternities and sororities were visited by members of the ASUO Executive and encouraged to vote in the referendum.”
She was concerned Hinman and her team targeted Greek Life because members involved in those groups would be more likely to vote “yes” than other groups on campus.
Finally, Castañeda references that she held an election and put together a campaign even though no elections board had been appointed at the time. Because of this, she recommended the referendum results be nullified, and that once an elections board is appointed, a second referendum should be held.
Currently, the ASUO Constitution Court is on winter recess, but a ruling should come shortly after the recess ends on Jan. 14.
New grievance filed against ASUO President Laura Hinman
Daily Emerald
December 21, 2012
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