A grievance filed with the ASUO Constitution Court yesterday charges President Emily McLain and Vice President Chii-San SunOwen with not fulfilling their duties and requests that they be removed from office.
The grievance, filed by University freshman Caroline Beranek, also asks the court whether work done by the ASUO elections board before members were confirmed by the Student Senate “shall be deemed valid.”
Three elections board members were confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 23 and one was confirmed on Feb. 20, 2008. The ASUO constitution states that all members must be confirmed by November 1 of each academic year.
There are additional charges relating to the timeliness of other executive appointments. The grievance lists appointees confirmed between Oct. 2007 and Jan. 2008 to positions that had been vacant since May 2007.
Several of the vacancies were the result of former senators not providing notice that they were graduating and their names were not placed on the spring election ballot.
The ASUO Constitution states that all vacancies must be filled within 30 days. McLain said some of the appointments in question were technically filled within 30 days because Summer Senate cannot confirm appointments, and the positions were filled as soon as the regular Senate reconvened.
“The issues that were brought up in the grievance,” McLain said, “are issues that have already been clarified.”
Other senate seats were filled as soon as there were qualified applicants, McLain said. The seat representing architecture majors was filled within a week of an architecture major applying, she said.
“Some of the issues were brought up months and months ago, so I’m really confused why this grievance is being brought up several months after the fact,” McLain said. “I’m confused as to why a student who wasn’t even here is bringing this up. She was a senior in high school in May.”
Beranek could not be reached for comment.
McLain said she will send questions and clarifications about the grievance to the court by 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The ASUO Constitution states that the Student Senate “(a)ssume the duties of the ASUO President in the event that the offices of both the ASUO President and the ASUO Vice President become vacant concurrently.”
McLain said that most of the grievance does not question SunOwen fulfilling her duties. “I actually don’t think the vice president position is threatened at this point in any way,” she said.
Senate President Athan Papailiou said he had not heard of the grievance and does not know Beranek.
Last year, then-Senate President Sara Hamilton was removed from Senate by a grievance alleging non-fulfillment of duties. The court ruled it had no other choice.
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