Rachel Pilliod will continue to serve as board chairwoman of the Oregon Student Association, as no official complaint was entered against her at an OSA board meeting Saturday.
OSA board member Bridget Burns was expected to bring allegations of partisanship and rule-breaking against Pilliod at the meeting, but after a two-hour executive session in which the possible charges were discussed, Pilliod apologized to Burns and the OSA board, and the discussion ended peaceably.
Pilliod, a prominent student leader who is also the ASUO president, has been fighting this week to keep hold of her OSA leadership position in the wake of a possible recall. Burns, the Oregon State University student body president, had initially announced Wednesday she would present a recall motion in writing at the board’s monthly meeting at Southern Oregon University. But after the private portion of the meeting, Burns said she would not bring forward any charges, and the two women appeared to make peace with each other.
“We unified as a board by discussing our differences,” board vice chairman Andy Saultz said after the meeting.
Saultz’s statement hardly reveals the tenor of the private session, in which tempers ran hot and emotions flared before board members were finally able to reach a consensus. But the vice chairman hit upon a crucial point: With a new state legislative session beginning Monday, members acknowledged they needed to unite and speak for the more than 70,000 students in Oregon they represent.
Pilliod said she was grateful for the chance to discuss her job performance with the board.
“We wouldn’t be in these student leadership positions if we didn’t feel so passionately,” she explained. “Differences of opinion are good, but differences without dialogue won’t get you anywhere.”
Most of the “dialogue” dealt with whether Pilliod’s appearance at a Democratic get-out-the-vote rally in October at the University of Oregon violated OSA partisanship rules. After the executive session was brought to a close, board members resolved to form an ad-hoc rules committee, led by Burns, that will examine OSA bylaws and help come up with clearer standards.
The two-hour session was the last segment of a six-hour marathon meeting where OSA members discussed issues ranging from tuition hikes to family planning. As 5 p.m. rolled around and the boardroom doors were opened, members breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“It never happened,” mumbled Western Oregon University member Gregg Magnus, still in a daze.
“An hour and a half of our lives just went through a vortex,” quipped Portland State University representative Miriam Gonzales.
After the meeting, Pilliod restated her apology for several actions as board chairwoman.
“I apologize for any ill feelings,” she said. “I also apologize for not understanding different situations (and) for reacting to things that took place.”
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