The ASUO is one step closer to a special election to reform its budgeting committees after President Emily McLain resubmitted amendments to the Constitution Court Tuesday.
McLain also requested an open session of the court for justices to hear oral arguments so they can ask questions of her and members of the affected committees.
It is not clear when such a hearing would take place, but the Executive issued a press release that pointed out the court should rule within 10 days as stated in the ASUO Constitution.
The special election, to be conducted online via DuckWeb, would be open for three or four days. McLain said voting could begin within four days of the court approving the amendments.
The ASUO has not held a special election for more than a decade, and there’s no telling how many students would participate.
“I don’t even know what a reasonable expectation is,” McLain said. “Hopefully lots and lots of students will turn out to vote for these changes.”
The election would ask students if the ASUO should change the way incidental fees are allocated by removing the Athletic Department Finance Committee and replacing it with a committee that handles both athletics and ASUO contracts.
A separate Departments Finance Committee would also be created, and two new seats would be added to the Student Senate.
“The responsibility and the amount of money the ASUO has become responsible for has grown dramatically over the last decade,” McLain wrote to the court. But the committee structure has not changed to reflect their budgets, which have grown by millions of dollars.
Currently the Programs Finance Committee, originally created to allocate funds to small student groups, handles all student programs, ASUO contracts and University departments funded in part by the incidental fee. It has a total budget this year of more than $5.6 million. The changes would allow the committee to return to its original purpose.
Sen. Steven Wilsey, the most vocal member of the PFC, has said the committee is burdened with too many responsibilities for seven students to handle. Others in student programs have long argued that large contracts and departments compete for funds and hearing time with student groups.
If the amendments are approved by the court and supported by a majority of voting students, the court will then have to decide how to change the make up of the Senate.
There are currently nine senators who represent academic majors. Two of them will return next year: Sen. Noor Rajabzadeh, who represents social sciences, and Sen. Kevin Parks, who represents graduate and law students.
Other senate seats may have to be re-arranged to create another academic position. Senate Vice President Patrick Boye has recommended splitting his seat, representing journalism and education, in two. Another finance senator would also have to be added.
There has been tension between the court and the Executive and legislative branches in recent months as the court has not approved a single petition to come before it, including long-touted ethics reform and a prior version of these constitutional amendments.
McLain said she wants the election to occur as soon as possible so that it does not interfere with regular elections to be held in the spring and so the changes won’t become politicized during the spring campaign.
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Executive refiles fee committee changes
Daily Emerald
January 31, 2008
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