After an eight-hour discussion that extended into the early morning hours, ASUO Senate reinforced the Nov. 7 vote of transferring $142,000 from the over-realized fund to the Mallard Madness Concert. @@checked@@
Around one hundred people showed up during the Senate meeting Wednesday to express their frustration with the funding, citing that the process the ASUO Executive team used was illegal, according to the ASUO Constitution. After discussion had been closed and the speakers list had been exhausted, the senate did not pass the motion to rescind the funding of Mallard Madness by a vote of 6-7-2.
Members from the audience spoke up and voiced their opinions about how the funding would negatively affect students on campus.
“To me it seems like everyone should have equal access to this money, including the ASUO Executive, but they should also be subjected to the same process,” said Shannon Arms,@@directory@@ a student representative.
“By taking such a large sum of money out of that fund … they’re taking away that opportunity for all those student groups…”  said Chris Becker,@@directory@@ a Sustainability Center representative.
By the end of the night, the main question was whether or not the ASUO Executive team’s process was fair. Some senators who believed that the process was fair were put on the spot.
“Since an (over-realized committee) wasn’t formed Week 4 and it now being Week 8, the executive was forced to bypass the over-realized committee because senate would have final say anyway” Sen. Joe Junor@@directory@@ said.
ASUO President Laura Hinman spoke up to clairify her point of view when presenting this process. Hinman described talking to Sen. Ben Bowman and recalled him advising her to take the request before Senate since the over-realized committee had not been formed.
“It was never my intention to break the rules. I went through the process that was there, and I left it up to you all to interpret your own rules” Hinman said.
The decision of whether the process was done fairly is pending review by the ASUO Constitution Court, which will have final say over the issue. Nevertheless, some senators on the body felt that they owed the audience a vote during the meeting.