Senator Dallas Brown has pointed out in Senate meetings, and in the Emerald editor in chief’s office, that Senator Amy DuFour’s rule violation was more egregious than his own. In Monday’s “Audit finds ASUO senator’s absences were overstated,” the Emerald reported that Brown had missed a Senate meeting, and DuFour should have been kicked out of her seat in the fall because she is not an architecture major.
DuFour, before she resigned March 16, occupied Seat 12, which represents Architecture & Allied Arts. The seat is supposed to be filled by an architecture major, but DuFour is a public relations major. Senate President Stephanie Erickson pointed out the violation after Senate Ombudsman Jared Axelrod conducted a Senate audit and found that DuFour was not registered for the proper major. DuFour resigned immediately.
DuFour’s infraction was serious, and the Emerald should have written a separate article about it.
It does appear as though DuFour’s mistake was free of malicious intent. It was also free of common sense. The idea that the AAA representative should be an architecture major is fairly intuitive. But the blame does not rest solely on her. Axelrod and Erickson do know the rules. They should have noticed the problem earlier – before a senator undeserving of her seat received a stipend. Part of the ombudsman’s responsibility is to hold senators accountable, and Axelrod clearly dropped the ball on this. Erickson should have been more conscientious about making sure that senators understood their duties, which DuFour clearly didn’t.