The Meeting
ASUO senators voted to approve four special requests, confirmed another Constitution Court associate justice appointment, denied confirmation of an appointment for Senate Seat 20 and discussed issues of hearing communication from the student body Wednesday night.
The Decisions
A special request was made by the Student Insurgent publication for students to attend the North American Student Cooperative Organization Institute, a conference about living in cooperative housing. ASUO Vice President Maneesh Arora said the group showed how they would be bringing their knowledge back to campus.
“It’s a great way of bringing it back to the student body,” Arora said on the conference.
The request was approved with 13 voting for, three votes against and one senator abstaining.
Additionally, a request from the Arab Student Union for a beach retreat was approved with 15 votes for and two votes against. Requests from the Native American Student Union for a basketball tournament and Climate Justice League for a training series were unanimously approved.
Senate approved Constitution Court associate justice appointee Jerrett Glass with 16 senators voting for and one abstaining from voting.
The Tension
Meanwhile, executive appointee to Senate seat 20 Kristina Harding was denied ASUO Senate confirmation with seven votes approving, eight against and two abstaining. As this is the second week where ASUO President Amelie Rousseau has brought forward a nominee for Senate that has been denied, a discussion section entitled “What We are Looking for in a Senator” was added to the later portion of the meeting.
The qualities discussed by senators included being passionate about learning about their position, having time to commit to Senate and enthusiasm for the constituency they represent in Senate.
Sen. Brian Powell voiced his disappointment with the Senate for denying two applicants and encouraged the Senate to hold the discussion section.
“We have failed two senate confirmations in two weeks,” Powell said. “We need to see what is wrong with this process, so we can move on.”
Arora was upset with Senate because several members voted against approving Harding’s confirmation without voicing concerns about that confirmation.
“I heard questions; I didn’t hear opinions,” Arora said. “Senators have obligation to share their opinions, especially senators who didn’t say anything and then voted no. That’s ridiculous.”
Arora added that while he was not in attendance for last week’s meeting, he was disappointed with what he heard about senators’ treatment of Senate Seat 1 appointee Katherine Du Pont, who was denied confirmation last week.
Powell was upset with the way Arora called senators out when he did not attend the meeting.
“To talk about people’s behavior when you weren’t here; I think that should be left out, especially in a public meeting,” Powell said.
Sen. Chris Bocchicchio recognized the difficult issue of a public body conducting an interview, but said he wasn’t sure exactly how to deal with the methods Senate uses to conduct interviews. At the same time, Sen. Marissa Garcia said she was upset with the way senators criticized candidates.
“It’s up to them to prove themselves … I don’t think we’re supposed to make negative assumptions in front of candidates,” Garcia said.
Next Week
The Climate Justice League proposed another resolution requesting that Erb Memorial Union services remove the sale of bottled water. Sen. Jackson Hite and Sen. Tom Schally nominated themselves to assist in creating a resolution in the new resolution process, which should be ready by the meeting next week.
Since three senate seats remain vacated, there should be another appointee from Rousseau.
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