Student government leaders are concerned that University President Dave Frohnmayer wants to have additional oversight of Student Senate surplus spending. That was one important development at Wednesday night’s Senate meeting, which also saw the rejection of rule changes dealing with the censure of senators found in non-fulfillment of duties and testimony from a human rights activist who wants the University to rescind a doctoral degree given in 1978.
ASUO President Emily McLain told the Senate that the University’s general counsel said the ASUO was not following procedure in connection with surplus funds granted to Co-op Family Center to purchase a new van last month. It was not clear what the violation was, but that particular surplus request sparked the complaint that could lead to all surplus funds being approved by Johnson Hall, McLain said.
“Money from the (Programs Finance Committee) should stay in the hands of the ASUO. This is a slippery slope,” McLain said.
Senate President Athan Papailiou agreed, saying the University president already approves the overall incidental fee budget and “approving special requests is too much.”
The issue will be discussed at a meeting at 3 p.m. next Monday at the Mills International Center. McLain encouraged all senators to attend.
Papailiou said it is “extremely important to take a stand on this issue. We are recognized across the nation as an autonomous student government and this is a slippery slope.”
Even with warnings like those, the most serious moments at the meeting came from Matthew McDaniel, who said he was a human rights activist representing the Akha tribe in Thailand.
McDaniel came to ask the Senate to join him in his campaign to get the University to rescind the doctoral degree of a man named Paul Lewis, who McDaniel said abetted the Thai government in sterilizing tribal women.
Lewis’ dissertation was titled “The Introduction of a Family Planning Program to Akhas in Thailand.” McDaniel said the women were coerced into sterilization. He has written to University administration and the State Board of Higher Education, but said he has not gotten a satisfactory response.
McDaniel asked the Senate to join him in a complaint to both the president and the board.
Sens. Diego Hernandez, Nate Gulley, and Lauren Zavrel all seemed interested in carrying such a resolution.
“As the chair, I’m glad we are able to talk about things other than special requests,” Papailiou said. “I think we can really make a difference.”
A somewhat lighter topic of discussion was Senate rules changes, most of which were minor grammatical or single word corrections and passed unanimously. The only rule change that did not pass dealt with how to censure senators accused of non-fulfillment of duties.
Last year, Sen. Sara Hamilton was removed from the Senate by the ASUO Constitution Court after she was found to not have fulfilled her duties. Hamilton was censured for not sending out meeting agendas within 48 hours of a meeting, which is the policy laid out in the ASUO’s rulebook, the Green Tape Notebook. Oregon Public Meetings Law requires agendas to be posted within 24 hours.
The court ruled that the only option was to remove Hamilton from office.
The Senate is now trying to change that process by adding levels through which a complaint would have to pass and other consequences for senators before being removed from office. But none were agreed upon last night.
Sen. Neil Brown asked for a recess so he could read the rules change being voted on. Senators voted down his request. Brown proceeded to read the proposed change aloud during his speaking time.
“I can motion for a recess or I can keep reading,” he said. “I really want to read this before I vote on it.”
Sen. Billy Hatch, who was joining the meeting via conference call from Colorado, objected.
“You guys, I’ve been on the phone for an hour and forty-five minutes,” Hatch said.
“Senator Hatch, you don’t have the floor,” Papailiou interrupted.
Sen. Kyle McKenzie tried to waste time while other senators read the motion, and eventually Hatch asked by phone for a recess.
Senators screamed in objection, and Papailiou told them they could not yell while Hatch had the floor. Papailiou called for another vote on taking a recess and no hands raised, since Hatch wasn’t in the room.
Eventually all senators were ready to vote and the motion failed. It would have required all non-fulfillment of duties charges to be backed by two-thirds of the Senate and the ASUO Executive.
Before the vote was taken, Brown said he was going to vote against the motion because the body needed more accountability. Sen. Lee Warnecke agreed.
“It allows a presidential pardon,” Warnecke said. “I don’t want to say (it would) let the bad guy off, but (it would) let the crony off.”
Voting nay were Sens. Brown, Karen Trippe, McKenzie, Warnecke, Sarah Oaks, Dan Feldman, and Noor Rajabzadeh.
In other business, a resolution supporting the preservation of Mac Court was sent back to rules committee. The resolution was voted down last week. Sen. Samantha Brodey, the bill’s sponsor, said she thought miscommunications about the intent of the bill led to its failure. Brodey said she was sending a bill about preservation, not renovation or restoration, back to committee.
McKenzie and others had voiced concern about the cost of restoring the building and how much students would have to pay for it. There was also debate about whether the resolution had changed significantly enough to be reconsidered. Papailiou said he thought it had, but the bill would still need to be looked at.
Senate also approved $900 in surplus funds for the Survival Center and the appointment of Mei-Li Yu for an at-large seat on the PFC.
[email protected]