The Emerald reported on Wednesday that the ASUO Constitution Court has ruled that ASUO President Adam Walsh’s failure to appoint people to open student government seats could be grounds for impeachment (“Walsh’s job might be in jeopardy,” ODE, Apr. 19). Because Walsh has failed on multiple occasions to make appointments to open spots on the court within 30 days, he is in violation of the ASUO Constitution.
If three-fourths of the Student Senate wished, it could impeach him; if the court upheld the vote, Walsh would be kicked out of office.
Foremost, we adamantly believe that Walsh should not be impeached for this offense. Nor does it appear likely that such an impeachment would occur in the Senate because, as Walsh himself has stated, there are simply not enough students interested in filling the spots.
However, having a constitution that requires certain duties of the president that he cannot fulfill is ludicrous and must be changed.
Apathy toward student government is nothing new. Past executives have also faced problems filling vacant seats on less-popular bodies such as the court. Vacancies often arise on the court and on the Senate when people graduate, encounter time conflicts or simply quit. Eight senators have already left the senate this year, creating a lot of work for the Executive. At present, three seats on the Senate are vacant. Action obviously must be taken to increase student interest as well as commitment in the ASUO.
Insider politics sometimes results in politically unpopular people being overlooked for appointments. But as Walsh says, there is often a lack of qualified candidates who apply for positions.
In searching for candidates to fill vacated positions, Walsh and his team should consider a wider scope of advertising. Although the Executive places classified ads in the Emerald, it would certainly be beneficial to create posters advertising the positions available, as well as the responsibilities, time commitment and salary that those positions entail. Targeting students in law, political science and other social science classrooms might also yield results. Giving the average student easily available information about ASUO job opportunities would likely increase the applicant pool and hopefully stymie the problem of student officers who quit before the end of their term because they do not understand what they are getting themselves into.
ASUO recruiters might also consider speaking before large lecture classes about current opportunities in student government. Concentrating on political science and law classes would be a great way to reach out to a part of campus likely to be interested in seeking an ASUO position.
One unfortunate reason for the lack of applicants might be related to feelings that the Senate and other student government bodies do not greatly affect students. There is a common conception, not entirely unfounded, that the Senate mostly acts as a rubber stamp, saying yea or nay to funding requests from student groups and wasting time on extraneous resolutions.
Perhaps if the Senate was able to get more involved with the Student Conduct Code or the Five-Year Diversity Plan, students would be more interested in becoming a part of the government so that they might wield power in important campus issues. Many students probably do not even know that the court exists. Student government must be more than a resume-builder if more students are to become involved.
If nothing else, the constitution should be amended to include a provision stating that if the president can prove he or she has made certain efforts to fill positions but has been unsuccessful, he or she will not be impeached.