Two University students have begun an effort to oust ASUO President Jay Breslow.
If freshman business major Jarrett White and junior sociology major Chris Fosnight get 10 percent of the student population — about 1,700 people — to sign a petition by Dec. 13, they will force a campus vote on whether to remove Breslow from office.
By Wednesday afternoon, they had about 70 signatures.
White and Fosnight have accused Breslow of being biased and partisan during the ASUO’s voter participation campaign and of neglecting his duties this term.
“We feel that [Breslow is] just not doing a good enough job,” White said. “We think his priorities are in the wrong place.”
The first accusation stems from the Oct. 27 ASUO Candidate Fair and Rock the Vote Rally, which featured speeches from six Democrats, including former presidential candidate Bill Bradley. White said Breslow promised the College Republicans equal access, but the ASUO didn’t schedule time for any Republican speakers.
Both White and Fosnight are members of the College Republicans.
But Breslow said he offered both the College Democrats and the College Republicans help in scheduling speakers during the ASUO’s voter participation campaign, and he was not biased in any part of that campaign.
He added that Rock the Vote was a separate event from the candidate fair, which featured many Republicans.
In Breslow’s defense, ASUO legislative organizer Melissa Unger said the legislative team planned the voter drive.
“We put on the candidate fair. It was our intern who worked on it,” she said, adding that Breslow “knew it was going on, but it was really our campaign, which he left up to our decisions.”
White and Fosnight also accuse Breslow of failure to complete an annual list of rules, policies and goals.
Breslow said his staff has decided on a goal statement for the year. The list of regulations Breslow must compile is the Green Tape Notebook, which the previous administration should have published last spring but did not.
Though he and the staff are working on a version of the Green Tape Notebook, publishing it now as well as in the spring would cost students twice as much, Breslow said.
White and Fosnight said Breslow also failed to fill empty positions on the ASUO Constitution Court within the required 30 days from when the positions became vacant.
But Breslow said he wanted to wait until there were more qualified candidates before making decisions, and the court positions are now filled.
Graduate English student Scott Austin is one of those helping to gather signatures and was also one of the students considered for an open seat on the court.
Breslow spoke with Austin before the recall was filed, and Austin said the recall was not his idea.
But Breslow said he thinks the attack could be personal.
“He declared war on the ASUO a while ago,” he said.
Austin has filed numerous grievances against members of student government in his five years at the University, most of them unsuccessful.
Fosnight said he could probably find several more broken rules after further examination of the ASUO Constitution, but the overarching issue is that Breslow is not performing his duties responsibly or earning the incidental fee money the students pay him.
“If the duties for ASUO president were to be a nice guy, then [Breslow would] be an excellent president,” Fosnight said. “But that’s just not the case.”
Breslow attributed the oversights to the fact that he and ASUO Vice President Holly Magner are new to student government, and they are still in a period of transition.
“We’ve had an amazing fall term as an office,” Breslow said. “We’re not perfect. We’re learning how to do this.”
If White and Fosnight get the 1,700 signatures necessary, the signatures must be verified by the court before a special election can be held to determine whether to remove Breslow from office.