Ben Ordonez@@http://www.linkedin.com/pub/benjamin-ordonez/14/233/611@@ has filed a petition with the ASUO Constitution Court to reinstate the EMU Referendum and remove President Ben Eckstein from office.
Ordonez, the former communications director for the Students United Campaign during the 2011 ASUO Elections@@http://uostudentsunited.org/@@, filed the petition just before 2 p.m. Tuesday. The petition alleges Eckstein of not having the authority to remove the EMU referendum from the ballot and says he interfered with the Elections Board.
“Petitioner believes that that there is no greater violation than corruption of the electoral process, and that the violation was committed by the individual in the ASUO with the most power and influence only makes it that more egregious,“ the petition reads. “These direct, intentional violations committed by ASUO President Ben Eckstein must be considered the most serious possible, and require the strongest sanction: removal from office.”
“This petition is neither frivolous nor careless,” Ordonez said in a press release distributed shortly after he filed the petition with the Constitution Court. “As an everyday student, I will not stand idle and allow my own ASUO student government to take away my rights to a free, fair and orderly election process. Permitting the ASUO Executive to have this sort of biased and unchecked influence undermines our entire institution.”
Eckstein described the petition as “totally unfounded and clearly politically motivated.”
“The ASUO Executive has always supported a student vote on the Student Union project. The reason that a referendum is happening in the first place is because the executive advocated for it,” he said.
Eckstein stated that his office was drafting a response to the petition, which would be filed with the Constitution Court in a “timely fashion.”
Meanwhile, “There will be a vote on both the student union and the rec center projects, no matter what, at some point,” Eckstein continued. “Those projects will not move forward without a student vote.”
EMU Board Chair and ASUO Sen. Kaitlyn Lange expressed her support for Ordonez’s effort.@@http://www.outdoorprogram.uoregon.edu/index.php?p=board@@
“I think that (Ordonez) thought it was his only outlet to stand up to Eckstein,” Lange said. “I would hope that Eckstein would take this as a sign that cooperation talks need to start now.”
Lange made a connection between this petition and the recent impeachment of Oregon State University’s student government president M. Tonga Hopoi@@http://democratherald.com/news/local/article_5a32d916-06e0-11e1-80b5-001cc4c002e0.html@@. Lange said that in both cases an executive official acted without consulting with the legislative arm of student government. Hopoi was convicted of violating the ASOSU@@http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/@@ constitution and was censured at an impeachment trial held Nov. 1.
“It’s a very clear parallel you can draw with that,” Lange said.
Eckstein announced last Thursday that the student referendum on the EMU Renovation project would be postponed, most likely until general elections in the spring. The planned vote on the expansion of the Student Recreation Center will happen as scheduled next week, Nov. 14-18.
Eckstein said that at the time that he was concerned about the level of student involvement in the planning process for the new building, as well as ongoing issues with the Division of Student Affairs regarding the vote.@@http://studentaffairs.uoregon.edu/@@
Petition filed to remove ASUO President Ben Eckstein from office
Daily Emerald
November 7, 2011
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