A Student senator who faces sanctions for missing too many meetings was not absent for as many as previously thought, and another senator should have been kicked off the student government body earlier because she didn’t file for the major that her seat required, according to a recent audit. The updated data found that Senator Dallas Brown, who faces the possibility of being removed from Senate, attended more meetings than what was originally recorded, but still missed one meeting, a violation of student government rules.
To better understand each student group and the services that student fees pay for, senators are required to attend 14 hearings and negotiations during the winter term budget process, when student government bodies allocate about $10.5 million for student programs and services in the 2006-07 school year. The audit, conducted by Senate Ombudsman Jared Axelrod, found that Brown had only missed one, not six, of the 14 required meetings.
Brown, who is currently campaigning for next year’s ASUO presidential seat, may still face some disciplinary action for his one absence during budget season, but he also has three additional absences for a subcommittee he sits on.
The ASUO Senate Personnel Committee met in early March at the request of the Senate ombudsman, who’s responsible for disciplining senators and documenting their nonfulfillment of duties, and came up with several recommended courses of action against senators who fail to fulfill their requirements.
Brown’s three subcommittee absences could result in a reduction in his stipend, which is currently $125 a month, according to a memo from the Personnel Committee.
If a senator misses one or two budget or subcommittee meetings, he or she will be required to write an apology letter and explanation, which will be read aloud at one of the weekly Senate meetings. Senators who miss three to four meetings will lose a portion of their stipend, and five or more subcommittee absences will result in a grievance filed by the ASUO Senate, according to the memo.
Grievances, which may also be filed by any fee-paying student against an elected or appointed officer, are reviewed by the ASUO Constitution Court, the body with the authority to remove student senators.
Brown is currently contesting his three Academic Senate meeting absences because he says the former chairwoman, Amy Dufour, would not work with Brown’s class schedule. Dufour announced at several Senate meetings throughout last winter term that academic senators need to get back to her about when they can meet because they had already had to cancel a meeting for failing to make quorum.
Brown provided the Emerald with an e-mail he sent to Dufour with his class schedule. It was dated Feb. 20. Two of his absences were before Feb. 20; one was the November meeting and the other was the January meeting that failed to make quorum, which counts as an absence for all academic senators.
Dufour received Brown’s schedule three days before the last meeting on Feb. 23, but had to accommodate six other schedules to make quorum, she said.
The audit also found that Dufour, who formerly occupied the Architecture and Allied Arts seat on Senate, should have been removed from Senate in the fall.
Half of the 18 Senate seats are filled by students representing a particular major. Seat 12, Dufour’s, was to be filled by a student majoring in Architecture and Allied Arts, therefore providing some representation to students in that department.
The audit found that Dufour had filed for a minor in this department during fall term, but that she was majoring in journalism.
“She was assigned the triple A seat and had taken a couple classes, but she never had a major,” ASUO Senate President Stephanie Erickson said.
According to the Green Tape Notebook, the rules and guidelines for all student government bodies, senators are not required to have declared the major pertaining to their constituent group during the elections, but must have declared their major with the University Registrar no later than fall term.
In her letter of resignation, Dufour, who is running for ASUO vice president next year, explained what she called “a drastic misunderstanding and miscommunication” over the filing process. She said she had been approved for seat 12 during elections and again in the summer.
Erickson said it’s unfortunate for Dufour, given the timing of ASUO elections, but said “if she had any questions she should have asked.”
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