Just after sitting down to talk about the disconnect that exists between the ASUO and the students it represents, former Sen. Chris Bocchicchio resigned Monday.
Bocchicchio said when student senators and executive staff walk through the ASUO office doors, they abandon the concept of just being a student.
“As far as the way (Oregon Student Association) interacts with us, it gets to my point of the ASUO in general. When you join the ASUO, you stop being a student and you start being an ASUO-er,” Bocchicchio said. “Very few students within the ASUO, actually, both are a part of the ASUO and fulfill their commitment, but also are a student and interact with other students with their constituency.”
Bocchicchio said it wasn’t just ASUO senators who are guilty of losing touch with University students, but the executive branch, as well.
“I don’t know the executive that well, but from what I can tell, a lot of them, there’s too much time demanded from them from the ASUO,” Bocchicchio said. “Which brings into question, then, if they’re representing students, and they’re supposed to be representing students to the OSA, but they’re not actually students themselves anymore, how can the OSA actually represent students anymore?”
Bocchicchio resigned from Senate Seat 13, in which he represented business majors.
The Emerald had not received his official letter of resignation by press time, but Sen. Ian Fielding said Bocchicchio’s decision had to do with school and other personal reasons.
“I didn’t know he was going to resign; I think he had some personal thing happen in his life,” Fielding said. “I think he just needs time to focus on himself.”
Fielding said Bocchicchio made a point of contacting Kees de Kluyver, dean of the Lundquist College of Business, and attending business club meetings on a weekly basis.
Both Fielding and former Sen. Jeremy Blanchard were finance senators and elected by the entire student body rather than a specific academic concentration.
Fielding said an academic senator would perhaps give a better answer than a finance senator because they focus on one area.
However, Bocchicchio specifically cited Blanchard as one senator who connected with students during his time on Senate.
Blanchard was elected to Senate Seat 10, which held a seat on the Departmental Finance Committee, for a two-year term in spring term 2009 and resigned in December 2010 because he graduated at the end of fall term.
Blanchard said he was surprised and sad to see Bocchicchio leave the Senate.
“That’s definitely shocking, I know he was definitely committed to the Senate,” Blanchard said. “He was passionate about his work.”
Blanchard added that while sitting on the Department Finance Committee, he didn’t have a direct constituency.
He represented the entire student body that elected him by participating in extracurricular activities.
He also said Bocchicchio was good about reaching out to the business school.
“Chris actually had this down, being involved with more than just student government,” Blanchard said. “He was involved in countless other programs.”
Bocchicchio said he’s been discussing the ASUO-student dichotomy with other senators.
He said they’ve found they’re getting close to the logistical limit of what students can do, even considering the importance of student autonomy.
Student autonomy is based on the idea that the students have control over the services they pay for. And it was one of the key arguments from ASUO members who opposed taking Lane Transit District bus service off the incidental fee.
“I don’t think students could have organized a watch party for the BCS game … the Office of Student Life did it in a heartbeat,” Bocchicchio said. “We’ve hit the moon already, I feel like, we have hit the moon in what we’re doing, and I feel like we’re trying to push towards going to Mars, and it may just be too much.”
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Sen. Chris Bocchicchio resigns from ASUO
Daily Emerald
January 31, 2011
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