Responding to a generic question about the University, ASUO President Amelie Rousseau and Vice President Maneesh Arora banter back and forth as the bells start to chime on campus, signifying a new hour.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Maneesh+Arora@@ @@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Amelie+Rousseau+@@
“You first?” Arora asks.
“I don’t know, um —”
“President goes first.”
“I just like the general atmosphere here, I think —” Rousseau responds.
“Damn it. That’s what I was going to say,” Arora whispers.
“Yeah, like people are really open and inclusive,” Rousseau adds. “Compared to other schools, we’re super forward thinking.”
Rousseau and Arora were elected to the chief executive positions last spring, and their term ends Tuesday night. From their involvement with state legislative issues to some of their in-house accomplishments, the year has been a volatile one. Much has changed in ASUO politics.
In the span of approximately the last 12 months, the Student Sustainability Coalition has incorporated, hired a coordinator and found office space. That process began at the last meeting of last year’s ASUO Senate, when then-President Emma Kallaway and Rousseau stood to request an earmark of funds from the executive budget so the hiring process for the coordinator could start.@@http://blogs.dailyemerald.com/blog/tag/emma-kallaway/@@
After they got the earmark approved late last year, Arora worked to hire the coordinator, a professional staff person to work together with some of the larger efforts of the campus sustainability focus groups. During winter break of this school year, Louisa de Heer was hired to the position, and she’s been working in that position ever since.@@http://ssc.uoregon.edu/resources/@@
“I think my most fulfilling accomplishment has just been the sustainability work I’ve been able to do, from fundraising and creating the Student Sustainability Coordinator and then hiring a very competent person to that position. And then going to Student Affairs and the Programs Finance Committee and finding full funding for that position for next year — that’s been such a great experience,” Arora said. “That’s just been so fulfilling to see that all happen and to know that that’s going to be around and keep going a long time after I’m gone. That has been great.”
Rousseau mentioned several parts of her accomplishments.
“I think winning back an (Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group) contract was huge … that’s something that we’ve been fighting for a long time, and that’s going to be a vehicle, similar to the internship program, that’s going to develop leaders and also be able to contribute to the greater world and make the world a little bit better,” Rousseau said. “I also think tobacco-free campus was a big thing that will contribute to our legacy, something that will make UO more accessible, more sustainable, and we really got to be a leader in that.”
Former ASUO Sen. Ian Fielding had an opposing view on the OSPIRG issue, one that, though willing to compromise on a number for funding the group, wanted students to have the ability to opt out of paying for that contract. But Fielding commended a lot of the work Rousseau did and the leadership she gave to her staff.
“She did some good things and she worked really hard. Obviously, I had political disagreements,” Fielding said. “If you look at the recent Mallard Madness, that was really successful, other events that were really successful, (including) voter registration, her staff did do some good stuff this year.”
Rousseau also mentioned a lot of the legislative advocacy students have been directly working on, including the New Partnership, a proposal to turn the Department of Public Safety into a sworn police force and other higher education issues.
“We got a lot of students engaged in really tough issues,” Rousseau said. “And we were actually politicizing the student body and talking about things that mattered.”
Starting in January, Rousseau, along with a unanimous Oregon Student Association board, fought against University President Richard Lariviere’s proposal to start a $1.6 billion endowment with public bonds and private investors and govern the University by a local governing board. Rousseau was also backed by an ASUO Senate resolution that passed unanimously — one that dictated that any process that affected University finance, accountability or governance should include a student voice.@@http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/10/university_of_oregon_president_2.html@@
While Lariviere and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber struck a deal to postpone a legislature vote on the proposals discussions until next year, opponents of DPS expansion were not so lucky, with the Senate voting to approve the bill and the bill now simply awaiting a House vote.@@http://governor.oregon.gov/@@
This was one of the things Rousseau said didn’t go as well as she would have liked this year.
“With the DPS campaign specifically, I think that there could have been more collaboration between the administration and students. It was definitely frustrating at times to feel like our basic questions weren’t able to be answered, and it made it tough for us to make educated decisions,” Rousseau said. “If we had come up with what exactly we wanted to know and (asked) the questions earlier, maybe we would have been able to get those more easily, but I think that was something that was definitely frustrating, so it made it so that we had to be against something, because we didn’t know what the alternative was.”
ASUO Sen. Kaitlyn Lange has been critical of some of Rousseau and Arora’s treatments of certain issues this year. Lange said her criticism was centered around the way the ASUO had conversations this year.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Kaitlyn+Lange@@
“It’s just been a very volatile year for everyone that has worked together. I think that’s the best adjective to describe this year in the ASUO government,” Lange said. “I think that’s shared blame … it just could have gone differently.”
As for the things they set out to fix in the ASUO, Arora again mentioned the work they did in getting students to talk about important issues.
“I think that was something that both Amelie and I really wanted to prioritize, was working on issues that really matter and really affect students in a deep way,” Arora said. “Like Amelie talked about earlier, politicizing students and getting students to think critically about what was going on was something that I think we did, and I think Amelie did, really effectively.”
Rousseau is currently working on a project she will continue after her term ends, rearranging the ASUO office space in EMU Suite 4 to in order to create more shared space.
“I’m looking for new tables, couches, desks, but we want to make the office have more communal spaces, so more shared computers, more desk space, a conference table in the ASUO where we can actually hold meetings,” Rousseau said. “Also we want to have bookshelves of all of our resources for anything from organizing to management, to having all of the ASUO archives up there, so people can read those, just making it more user-friendly.”
Taking a step back, the conversation shifted to general things about the positions and Rousseau and Arora’s roles in the government.
“I think I learned how to be an ally and how to be a manager … and you can’t please everyone, but that’s OK,” Rousseau says.
Arora also spoke to the manager skills gained in his position, before addressing oration skills. The vice president sits ex officio — by right of office — on the ASUO Senate, and so when student groups come before Senate to request money, or senators discuss hot campus topics, Arora is a part of those discussions.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot of public speaking skills —” Arora says.
“Sometimes impromptu —” Rousseau interjects.
Arora repeats, and Rousseau adds, “You just gotta be ready, gotta be ready for anything.”
“There’s just so much I’ve learned this year,” Arora says.