The grievance that stopped the ASUO general election mid-way through voting two weeks ago finally had its day in court Friday, as the ASUO Constitution Court considered whether to remove the Multicultural Center’s measure from the ballot.
The court had to decide whether the MCC’s proposed $18,555 cultural programming fund violates ASUO rules — and whether the ASUO Student Senate is the only campus body that has the right to allocate student fee money. A decision could come during spring break or into the first weeks of spring term.
Sen. Mary Elizabeth Madden and the other four senators who filed the grievance argued the cultural programming fund would essentially create a “shadow senate” — a parallel system to the Programs Finance Committee fee allocation process. In doing so, it would violate the Green Tape Notebook, which are the rules governing the ASUO, they said.
Members of the MCC, on the other hand, argued that ASUO rules grant the senate the right to allocate funds, but they do not prevent other student groups from exercising a similar authority.
Madden and Sen. Jennifer Greenough, who helped present the senators’ case, said that fee money should be allocated by elected representatives only. Allowing the MCC to distribute a large amount of funds as it sees fit “will be allocation of student fee money without a voice of students,” Madden said. “There is no way to ensure the intention of the students will be fulfilled once the MCC has this money.”
Glen Banfield, a member of the MCC and the group’s primary speaker during the hearing, said that the rules only confer that right to the senate.
“Nowhere does it say the student senate has exclusive authority to allocate student incidental fee money,” Banfield said. He added that once the MCC or any other group is given money, it is theirs to do with as they wish.
At the University, fee money is given without consideration of a group’s views — the process is “viewpoint neutral.”
The senators said that because the MCC is a student group with a viewpoint of its own, it would not be able to distribute funds on a neutral basis, and so giving the MCC the power of allocation would put the fee system into jeopardy.
Banfield said the idea of viewpoint neutrality is directed only at the PFC, the senate, the ASUO Executive and the President’s office. A student program has the right to distribute funds based on its own views.
Justice Alan Tauber said the Green Tape Notebook gives the senate the right to act on all fee allocations, a comment that seemed to question the validity of the ballot measure system for some cases.
“It’s only fair that we allow the students as a whole to be able to vote on what they want their money to be spent on,” Banfield said, his voice raising. “I think it’s ridiculous for student senate and elected officials to say ‘If I say no, then no is the word.’”
Another portion of the senators’ argument targeted the measure’s language, which the senators contend was inaccurate and misleading.
Madden argued the measures wording was “ambiguous at best,” because it gave no specific explanation of where the $18,555 would be spent.
But Banfield pointed out that the court is supposed to approve wording that fits within established guidelines. The measure’s wording was approved earlier this month.
“The court did not believe the measure was misleading,” Banfield said. “Any problem after is not the fault of the MCC.”
Madden and the others also argued the MCC measure provided inaccurate information about the funding it receives from the fee.
Ballot measures must include the group’s current amount of funding. MCC’s measure provided its budget from this year, but Madden said it should have included next year’s budget amount.
The MCC had rewritten versions of the measure to submit if necessary, Banfield said, but he argued against removing the measure from the ballot completely.
“There is only one decision before the court that is to lift the injunction and continue the election, Banfield said. “That is the only equitable and the only legal remedy that is available to the court at this time.”