The Meeting
Wednesday ASUO senators heard from Department of Public Safety officers, approved one special request, confirmed all four members of the ASUO Elections Board and approved a resolution from the Climate Justice League.
The Decisions
ASUO Senate unanimously passed a request from the Collegiate Music Educators National Conference, paying for the hotel and registration of four graduate students and six undergraduate students to the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. The students are paying for travel and other expenses.
Meanwhile, all four ASUO elections board members proposed by ASUO Elections Coordinator William Price were confirmed. Senate unanimously approved Elections Board Public Relations nominee Taylor Danowski and Outreach nominee Julian Kroboth, while approving with 15 votes in favor and one against in both cases for voter education nominee Hannah Child and office manager nominee Madeline Liebreich.
Senate passed the Climate Justice League’s new Take Back the Tap resolution with 12 votes in favor and three votes against, while amending it to remove a provision banning University office water coolers.
The Tension
Prior to the special requests, Senate discussed for nearly an hour about DPS expansion, which featured DPS Chief Doug Tripp, Captain Ed Rinne and Detective Sergeant Chris Enquist. Sen. Erin Altman voiced her opposition to an expansion that uses the Eugene Police Department training model.
“In EPD, in the past year, we have seen multiple instances using excessive force,” Altman said. “There was a man shot in face by 6 feet away; I don’t have that much confidence in EPD’s training.”
However, Tripp, Rinne and Enquist cited the responsibility a campus police force to the campus it works on.
“There’s opportunity here to say, ‘If a bill is drafted, we should have an oversight initiative in that bill,’” Tripp said. “I think that’s a good idea that allows us to be accountable to people on campus.”
There were also concerns raised about what a campus police force would cost.
“Can you comment on fiscal responsibility? Because I don’t see it. Here you are with this truck,” Altman said, citing new Ford F-150s purchased by DPS over the summer.
The DPS officers attending the meeting said they were not out to create a large police force and they would return the money they didn’t need.
During Child’s confirmation hearing, the nominee mentioned an informal group meeting the appointees held prior to Senate with Price, which Sen. Chris Bocchicchio had issue with.
“Why was there a team meeting before they were confirmed?” Bocchicchio said.
ASUO Chief of Staff Ben Eckstein attended the last 10 minutes of the meeting to clarify questions Price or the appointees had.
“Will (Price) made the (hiring) decision; it wasn’t (ASUO President) Amelie (Rousseau) or (ASUO Vice President) Maneesh (Arora),” Eckstein said. “I came at the end of the meeting. … It was essentially Will prepping his staff to get confirmed by you all; I don’t have any role other than management.”
Next Week
A resolution about EmX expansion into the West 11th Avenue corridor was proposed.
Sens. Ian Fielding, Brian Powell and Jeremy Blanchard nominated themselves to the working group writing the resolution and should be bringing it for ASUO Senate discussion next week.
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ASUO Senate questions DPS over expansion
Daily Emerald
November 10, 2010
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