ASUO President Ben Eckstein signed a completed memorandum of understanding Friday afternoon with Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes that, among other decisions, guarantees a student referendum on the EMU and Student Recreation Center renovations during week 10 of fall term.@@sounds like Eckstein caved in@@
The decision followed a meeting Friday morning between Eckstein and Holmes — along with ASUO Vice President Katie Taylor, Senate Chair Lamar Wise and Sen. Kaitlyn Lange — to propose a series of revisions made to the memorandum early Thursday morning at the tail end of a ten-hour Senate meeting.
During that late-night meeting, the revisions had gained unanimous support from ASUO senators at the meeting and received strong endorsements from members of the EMU Board and several student groups, including the Multicultural Center, the Women’s Center and Fraternity and Sorority Life representatives.
“Students run this student union,” Eckstein said. “It is our building and our money, and when students get a chance to cast their vote on this ballot measure, they can do so being absolutely certain it will stay that way.”
In addition to reinstating plans for a referendum, the memorandum confirmed a number of lasting commitments from the administration. One will re-establish the presence of elected student representatives on the Student Recreation Center Advisory Board, while another will ensure that students are involved in setting the new EMU construction fee if the referendum is approved.
Yet, perhaps the greatest commitment coming from the memorandum is a guarantee from the administration not to raise tuition for the remainder of the academic year — even if potential state revenue shortfalls in the current @@current or the coming? see next sentence@@budget result in higher education cuts across Oregon. A revenue forecast set to be released on Nov. 17 will determine whether the state will face further deficits.
As for the referendum, it is now scheduled from Nov. 28 through Dec. 2. Minus strong opposition from students, the administration would then move forward with a formal request to the State Board of Higher Education this February. Pending the board’s approval, construction would commence on the EMU in fall of 2013 , with rec center construction beginning a year later in Fall of 2014.