Despite an executive appointment at Wednesday’s Senate meeting, Senate Seat 14 remains unfilled.
Junior Xavier Aranda came before Senate Wednesday, and the questions that followed were not whether Aranda was qualified for the position, but rather a lengthy debate on the classification of academic Senate seats and whether Senate should confirm him or postpone the confirmation vote until consulting Constitution Court.
The Senate voted to postpone Aranda’s confirmation.
Aranda, an ethnic studies major and National Student Exchange student, sought to fill Seat 14, the academic Senate seat that represents social sciences. However, Aranda also fits into qualification for Seat 19, which represents journalism and NSE students. This seat is currently filled by Sen. Lindsay Reichardt, a journalism major.
“In my interpretation of the (Green Tape Notebook), I think that you can absolutely be one of both (classifications) because it doesn’t say you can’t,” Sen. Sandy Weintraub said at the meeting. “There are no exclusionary principles. He is in that major; if you’re in that major, you’re eligible for that position. He is an ethnic studies major who happens to be an NSE student. For the expediency of it, I encourage you to vote because it is our right to do so.”
Expediency was not the only factor at play, as the Senate eventually decided the issue would be seen by the Constitution Court regardless. The debate then evolved into a question of whether to confirm the appointment before Constitution Court would have a chance to review the rules at play.
“I think that as a body right now, we need to recognize that we are the voice of students. One week without the voice of students is a week we lose out,” Sen. Demic Tiptino said at the meeting. “We need someone there to fill that spot. We’re missing out on encouraged discussion. Even if it goes to con court later, do anything possible to fill this seat. The whole point of our body is to represent students. I don’t think we should table this.”
ASUO President Emma Kallaway urged senators to vote on the confirmation instead of waiting to hear from Constitution Court.
“We absolutely think that by prohibiting him from running for this seat that you’re prohibiting student representation,” Kallaway said. “We checked on the entire thing. He pays the i-fee like any student would, and the social science seat has been empty for too long.”
Other voices in the room, however, urged senators to air on the side of caution instead of expediency, alluding to mistakes made in the past.
“Taking a little bit of extra time is always important,” said Sen. Carina Miller. “When we didn’t do it last year, it ended up being awful. My advice: wait it out, especially if we can’t understand it fully. I need to make sure that we’re doing these things right.”
Sen. Lyzi Diamond brought the issue of Aranda’s official classification to the attention of the Senate and was the main proponent behind the move to postpone the vote.
Diamond made the point that if this passed, there could be the “fantastical scenario” of National Student Exchange students in every seat, ultimately comprising a Senate of out-of-state exchange students. She noted this was the reason that this group was represented by Seat 19.
During the heated debate, Senate President Nick Gower interrupted ASUO Vice President Getachew Kassa, who was attempting to defend the position in favor of voting on the confirmation.
Kallaway responded with an angered, “Are you really cutting him off? That’s really inappropriate.”
After witnessing the hour-long disagreement, Aranda was confused by the Senate’s acrimony.
“When I was standing up there, I noticed how divided the whole Senate was,” he said. It made him question, “Do I want to be on a seat that is so divided; am I ready to be on a seat that is so argumentative?”
Aranda still wants to be on the Senate seat despite the disagreement, saying the debacle fueled his desire.
“It doesn’t make me waver, it makes me want to pursue the seat more,” he said. “I hope if something like this happens again, I can have a voice for someone who was in my position too.”
Alongside the discussion of Aranda’s eligibility, another discussion was also going on about the communication between the executive and the Senate.
“This is a very controversial issue, and I’m just saying this is awfully confusing,” Sen. Nick Schultz said. “The executive should have been talking to us prior to this meeting. I have to say, where was the communication in this?” Schultz asked Kallaway. “I would have liked to see these issues brought up earlier.”
Kassa responded to Schultz by bringing up the Senate’s apathy.
“I followed the rules, I submitted the appointment 24 hours in advanced,” he said. “The other day, though, I was looking for an application and I couldn’t find one, so I grabbed one from Senate mailboxes. Some boxes are still full of applications. So if we’re pointing fingers, I can point back at you.”
The Senate ultimately decided to send the issue to Senate Rules Changes Committee, who will decide on the proper way to present the issue to Constitution Court.
Toward the end of the meeting, another issue came up that also led to a discussion of whether it was a decision for the Senate or the courts.
An upset Weintraub countered the sentiment saying, “We as a body are allowed to act without a court,” which was received by many knocks of approval.
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