Though ASUO elections were in full swing, Wednesday night’s ASUO Senate meeting was the second in a row for which the trappings of the campaign were largely left at the door.
Discussion of the campaign was mostly confined to Elections Coordinator Aaron Tuttle’s update to the Senate. While half of the 18 ASUO senators were conducting campaigns for election or re-election during the week, none openly displayed their campaign colors, covering them with shirts and jackets.
Rather than the election, the discussion focused on the funding requests before the body and the content of the officers’ presentations, as do most Senate meetings. The most pronounced debate was over senators’ participation in the University Senate, which contains both professors and students.
Freshman Suzi Gabay spoke before the Senate and condemned its members for laxity in attending the meeting. Five ASUO senators are members of the committee, but Gabay said that only Sen. Deborah Bloom from among them had attended. Sen. Mikey Latteri was also present for part of the University Senate meeting.
“As a student, I felt let down that the other four people who had responsibilities to be there and represent the student body didn’t go,” Gabay said.
Senators’ reactions to Gabay’s accusation were disparate. Some defended their absence, while others chastised their colleagues.
“I think it’s a privilege to sit on University Senate,” Sen. Tyler Scandalios said.” I’d love to sit on University Senate, and these people have University Senate seats and they don’t do anything about it.”
However, Senate Academic Chair Cassandra Gray replied that she had made arrangements with the University Senate president and said she had attended many University Senate meetings. She told Scandalios she had invited him to attend before and he hadn’t come.
In addition to Bloom and Gray, Sens. Noor Rajabzadeh, Latteri and Lidiana Soto, sit on the committee. Soto, who ran unsuccessfully for 2009-10 ASUO vice president, was also absent from the ASUO Senate meeting, along with her running mate Nick Schultz.
Gray condemned the senators who didn’t show up, but did not name Schultz or Soto specifically. Soto and Schultz both cited prior commitments for their absence.
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