The ASUO Student Senate met Wednesday night to elect a treasurer, make nominations and hear requests from several campus organizations.
The Senate nominated and approved senators James George, Stephanie Erickson, Toby Hill-Meyer, Sarah Wells and Kevin Day for the Rules Committee; Rona Yang, Stephanie Stoll, Austin Shaw-Phillips, Emily Sousa and Sol Hart for the Finance Committee; and Colin Andries, Lisa Lam, Jack Crocifisso, Khahn Le and Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar for the Personnel Committee. Moreno-Villamar, Hart, Wells, Souse and Stoll will serve on the University Senate.
Finding senators willing to serve on one of the committees proved difficult. Shaw-Phillips originally declined his nomination for a spot on the Finance Committee citing his disdain for math, saying that “for the good of the Senate” he shouldn’t be on the committee. Shaw-Phillips accepted after it became clear no senators wanted the position.
After the committees were approved, the Senate approved two new job descriptions from the Multicultural Center and approved a $1,400 transfer from the incidental fee surplus fund to cover the costs of hiring for positions.
The two positions were designed to serve as an outreach to minority students in area high schools, which programs adviser Steve Morozumi said are often unfairly cast as incapable of succeeding at the University level.
The requests had been postponed from last week’s meeting because of concerns over whether the new job descriptions were a violation of federal work-study laws.
“The only concern was that they might be a violation,” senator Toby Hill-Meyer said, adding that no one knew because many hadn’t read them.
Morozumi told the Senate he thought the request was “subjected to unfair and disproportionate scrutiny that other organizations don’t get.”
Delaying the approval of the job descriptions and the surplus transfer would make it difficult to reach current high school seniors whose college applications are due soon.
Moreno-Villamar supported the new positions, saying that to delay the request any further would “(delay) the hopes and dreams of youth.”
Hart expressed concern over approving job descriptions that University lawyers had yet to declare legal.
“What was before us before was not legal,” he said, referring to the job description presented at the Oct. 6 Senate meeting and adding that it is crucial for the Senate to obey the law.
Morozumi said the claim that the job description was illegal was “outrageous. You can say these things and say it loud enough and long enough but it doesn’t make it true.”
The Senate also unanimously approved requests from the Women’s Law Forum, the Community Internship Program, the Hawaii Club, the Black Student Union and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Educational and Support Services Program, totaling approximately $4,000.

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