The student government president vetoed a $6,300 request Monday for a workshop series put on by the ASUO Women’s Center starting in February, citing what he felt was a discriminatory clause in the event’s e-mailed invitation.
But now ASUO President Adam Walsh said he will ask the Student Senate to override his veto.
“Essentially, it was discrimination on the basis of sexual identity,” Walsh said, “(But) now it’s been reworded.”
The original e-mail stated that enrollment into the workshops is open to University students and Eugene residents “who identify with oppression on the basis of race, gender and gender identity, sexuality, and or dis/ability. Women, people of color, LGBTIQQ, gender Queer and dis/abled participants only.”
It also stated that community members “who do not identify as such may be possible but requires (sic) prior instructor approval and is based on space availability.”
Walsh said the original e-mail broke the law with its discriminatory language.
He also vetoed it because he was skeptical about the Women’s Center wanting to spend $6,300 in student incidental fees to bring back its former director, Erin O’Brien, to host a workshop entitled ” remembering Oppression.” Walsh said he spoke with Women’s Center Interim Director Brandy Ota and decided, “It’s not some kind of favoritism.”
He said this year’s allocation for speakers and workshops at the annual event equals or is lower than what has been spent in the past.
Originally, the Women’s Center brought to the Student Senate a special request, a document outlining how the student fee-funded program wants to spend the incidental fees it was budgeted last year. Ota asked that Senators agree to transfer the money out of the director’s payroll account, which had $40,483, because a director’s vacancy left much of the money unused. Senators passed the request, but only after Ota said the language of the e-mail would be changed. Walsh vetoed it because the changes had not yet been made, and he wanted to discuss the issue further with the Women’s Center.
Ota discussed the request with Senators for about 20 minutes before a motion was made to vote. The motion was less than the original request of $9,135, but senators agreed in a 10-4 vote, with one abstaining.
Ota said she and Walsh discussed the e-mail and questions about bringing the former director back, and the issues were settled.
“I think they just needed more information,” Ota said. “I talked with them and everything was fine.”
Women’s Center spokeswoman Stefanie Loh said O’Brien is “perfectly qualified to speak.”
“She’s done numerous events and is a pretty well-known speaker,” Loh said.
The workshops will begin Feb. 11 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more information and a full schedule of the workshops, visit uoregon.edu/~women/, or e-mail [email protected].