The ASUO Programs Finance Committee filed an extension with Student Senate on Wednesday to present its budget on Feb. 26, one week after its original deadline.
PFC members postponed their presentation to have time to recall the Career Center’s and the Oregon Daily Emerald’s budgets. The Emerald made several attempts by phone to contact the committee for comment, but was unable to reach PFC at press time.
The Career Center’s budget recall hearing is today at 5 p.m. and the Emerald’s budget recall hearing is at 6 p.m.
The committee had been unable to hold recall hearings until now because of an injunction issued Friday by the ASUO Constitution Court, which was lifted Tuesday. The court had halted PFC’s recall process in order to consider a petition for review filed by Emerald editor in chief Michael J. Kleckner. In the petition, Kleckner alleged that the committee had no procedure in place that governed recalls, and asked justices to rule that PFC’s vote to recall the Emerald’s budget was unconstitutional.
Justice Michael Harris said that after careful consideration of the evidence, the court unanimously voted to dismiss Kleckner’s claim because he had failed to first submit his grievance to the ASUO Programs Administrator.
Although the court did not rule on the grievance, it did make a constitutional
interpretation that Kleckner was incorrect in his claim that PFC had no rules governing the use of the recall procedure. Harris said PFC stated in its bylaws that it would follow “Robert’s Rules of Order” for procedures not explicitly outlined by the committee, and that the parliamentary manual contains rules on making motions to reconsider.
Kleckner filed another grievance Wednesday morning with ASUO Programs Administrator Vanessa Harris asking that PFC’s motion to reconsider the Emerald’s budget be declared null and void because he believed PFC had not followed “Robert’s Rules of Order.” In his grievance, Kleckner said PFC had missed its opportunity to recall the Emerald’s budget under these rules because a motion to reconsider can only be made on the day the vote was originally made or the next day. PFC approved the Emerald’s incidental fee allocation at $123,370, a 2.81 percent increase, on Feb. 6 and voted to reconsider the motion on Feb. 13, Kleckner stated. He added that although “Robert’s Rules of Order” provides some exceptions to the rule, PFC did not qualify for these exceptions based on how the committee is defined in the ASUO Constitution.
Kleckner said he decided to file another grievance because he felt it was critical that administrative bodies, such as PFC, have a process for operating and make sure they follow it.
“I think (filing a grievance) is a worthy exercise to make sure we keep the incidental fee safe,” Kleckner said.
Career Center Director Larry Smith said he was not upset about having a budget recall. Smith added that he believed PFC was recalling the Career Center’s budget to reopen discussion about a GTF position that was not funded at the group’s original hearing.
“I am looking forward to being able to talk with PFC in order to see what they have in mind,” Smith said.