The ASUO Constitution Court gave a thumbs up to special elections and a thumbs down to a grievance against ASUO President Emily McLain and Vice President Chii-San SunOwen over spring break.

Elections begin this week

The special election will be held this Wednesday and Thursday. Beginning at 9 a.m. on DuckWeb, students will decide whether to amend the ASUO Constitution to change budgeting committee structure. Voting will end Thursday at noon.
Full text of the changes will be available on the ASUO Web site, said McLain, but for those not interested in reading the entire document, “There is a short explanation that is straight down the middle.”
Proposed changes include eliminating the current Athletic Department Finance Committee and creating a new committee responsible for both negotiating student tickets with the athletic department and budgeting of contracted services, such as ASUO Legal Services and Lane Transit District bus passes. This committee will be known as the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee.
It will also form an additional Department Finance Committee that would deal with budgeting of departments and add two seats to the Student Senate. In the current structure, the Programs Finance Committee budgets for all programs, contracts and departments funded by student fees and has a budget of more than $4.5 million next year.
“The results will be spreading out allocation responsibilities,” McLain said.
If the changes are approved, more seats will be open for the spring election. ASUO Elections Coordinator Kendall Tylee said if the changes are approved, filing for the newly created academic senate seat, as well as at-large seats on the DFC and ACFC will be open to all students.
Tylee is waiting for the court to decide which University department the new academic seat will represent.
Tylee explained students already interested in running for a Senate finance seat who filed for the ADFC will be given priority to refile for the newly created seats in the DFC and the ACFC.
Because of the special election, primaries have been rescheduled to open April 8 at 9 a.m. through DuckWeb, but no other changes will be made to the elections schedule. An executive debate is scheduled for April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Living and Learning Center performance hall, Tylee said.
While student government rules don’t specify a certain voter turnout is necessary, past special elections have seen between five and 10 percent of students vote, Tylee said.
“This is the first time a change has been made to the structure of the ASUO in nearly a decade,” Tylee said. “It’s how the incidental fee is allocated that’s being voted on, and this directly affects students.”
Students with questions about the special election are encouraged to stop by the ASUO office in the EMU or e-mail Tylee at [email protected].

Grievance dismissed

A grievance filed on March 11 by freshman Caroline Beranek asking that McLain and SunOwen be removed from office was dismissed because the court found the grievance was not filed against the proper party.
The court determined that there was no basis for a case against SunOwen, a point strongly argued in a 20-page response that McLain and SunOwen submitted to the court.
“We wrote a really extensive response because we took the grievance seriously,” McLain said. “We have, without a doubt, fulfilled all those responsibilities.”
Beranek has not responded to multiple attempts by the Emerald to get comment. The grievance charged McLain with not appointing students to open positions in the ASUO within times specified by student government rules.
The court addressed these charges by stating “there is a difference between when someone is appointed to a position and when said appointment is confirmed.” The grievance in many instances used Senate minutes to determine when appointments were confirmed by the Senate.
The court wrote, “Therefore providing evidence of when someone is confirmed in no way indicates when they were appointed.”
McLain said she was glad to have the grievance dismissed.
“There’s always an issue of having applicants for positions,” she said, adding she believes it is important to fill all open seats in ASUO committees.
Beranek’s grievance also asked the court to determine whether work done by the elections committee prior to confirmation by the Senate was valid, but the court did not address this. The grievance was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it may be refiled.
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