Student government members who violated the Student Conduct Code during an October finance retreat to Sunriver appear to have not completed their self-imposed punishment of 100 hours of community service by deadline.
Although ASUO leaders who participated in the Oct. 8-10 retreat agreed to complete 100 hours of community service by the fifth week of spring term, ASUO President Adam Petkun, who previously told the Emerald he might supervise the community service, said on Friday he was “not aware of very much community service from … attendees of the retreat at this time.”
ASUO Student Senate President James George, who led the retreat with Vice President Mena Ravassipour, declined to comment in an e-mail to the Emerald on Monday.
Ravassipour said retreat members have been doing service and the punishments “should be done,” but she didn’t know what was finished. She also said she couldn’t say which group members were in charge of specific aspects of the punishment.
The students also pledged to create a “dos and don’ts” video and other retreat guideline material by March 10 and to each hold 10 extra office hours by May 25.
Retreat participants formulated the punishment for themselves after taking group responsibility for retreat attendees who smoked marijuana and drank alcohol on the trip,
refusing to disclose their names or how many of the 39 students who went on the retreat committed violations.
Student Judicial Affairs Coordinator Chris Loschiavo approved the punishments. He could not be reached for comment Monday.
Retreat attendees initially proposed paying back all of the incidental fee funds used on the trip in addition to other punishments. While Loschiavo approved of the committee, video and community service, repayment was not finalized as a punishment because ASUO officials said it would not be feasible to raise the money or determine how much money would be necessary because most of the activities on the retreat were productive.
Petkun previously said there was no formal plan for who would record the hours,
although he would likely supervise the
community service.
“I might probably do it, since I’m kind of an outside party. So I’ll be going along for the ride and doing the community service because I think it’s a good thing for the community anyway, even though I wasn’t in the retreat,” he said in a Feb. 1 Emerald article. “So that way I can also kind of, from afar, keep track of who has (done service).”
Petkun said Friday he has not kept a log of the service.
“I inquired about it at the conclusion of last term and was told that there were student senators that had organized an event, if you will, but I was not given specifics and I’m not certain whether or not they followed through on it,” he said.
He said he was concerned that the
punishment might not be completed.
“I’d like to think that when the group agreed on it, they meant sincerely that they wanted to actually see it to conclusion, and I think everyone can agree that the terms laid out were fair and were realistic,” he said.
He added that he had no specific plans to
enforce the community service.
“Ideally, I would create a day, again, to have people come out and do it,” he said. “I’ve been thinking that it would be wise to check in with Chris Loschiavo about … how he would play into it if people don’t actually do the hours.”
But Petkun emphasized that government members have been “working on their jobs,” providing a “really valuable service to the students, especially … in light of the fact that the PFC took much longer to conclude than it
normally would have.”
“But given the space we’re in the year, I’d like to see more of a commitment from those individuals, which will also take more of a commitment from me to make sure that that
happens,” he said.
He said the lack of activity might give
students a negative impression of student
government.
“If people are paying attention, I think it should (have a negative impression), honestly. Again, I do have a responsibly in making sure this happens so I’m not trying to blame people that haven’t done the community service,” he said.
The goals “set to accomplish were valuable and I’d like to see them completed and I think they would too,”
Petkun added.
ASUO Public Relations Director Nathan Strauss previously told the Emerald the timeline was designed to allow participants reasonable time to complete their punishments.
“We basically just consider everyone involved is really busy with their positions and focusing on getting all their other duties accomplished,” Strauss said.
Strauss also previously said that while there was no set amount
of service each group member
needed to fulfill, the service would
be completed.
Retreat participants also agreed to work on new retreat guidelines for all student groups, including a quick reference guide, Strauss previously told the Emerald.
Ravassipour previously said the new guidelines will be presented March 10 to the Programs Council, a body comprising representatives of student groups on campus so the council could ratify the rules.
Ravassipour said the guidelines were scheduled to be presented but weren’t because a different issue was discussed instead.
Petkun said group members have worked on a “dos and don’ts” video.
ASUO President-elect Adam Walsh said the punishment has never seemed adequate.
“Extra office hours for students who are supposed to be serving the student body anyway doesn’t seem … like much of a punishment,” he said. “It seems like something someone might do because they enjoy their job anyway.”
He added that the community service hours were not enough.
“From the beginning it didn’t seem like something that was actually going to get done,” Walsh said. “We’ve said before we would have liked to see it dealt with differently. We would have liked the money just to be paid back just as a show of good faith to students to show that a mistake was made and we’re doing everything in our power to take care of it.”
He said the incoming administration would not be affected by the Sunriver incident.
“People know this is a new
administration, we’re newly elected officials,” he said.

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