ASUO's Job: Represent Students
SU Director A. L. “Si" Elling
son is fond of saying, “The main
function of student government
is to represent student opinion
to the other ‘publics' (faculty,
administration, alumni, etc.) in
the University.
“But the problem is that when
it does that job right it doesn’t
always make headlines."
j Which is to say that when stu
ent leaders represent their con
stituents properly, student gov
ernment runs smoothly, there's
ao controversy and few head
ines.
Thus are student politicians at
fhe University often criticized
for “playing politics" too much—
<o keep student government in
4he headlines.
j Yet finding the best way to
Represent student opinion has
been the main activity of student
government here for the past
three years. And during .that same
period student criticism of that
Jovernment has risen to a new
igh, with many students won
dering. "What good does student
government do me?”
New Constitution
Two years ago—after a long
Campaign and several defeats—
student leaders got passed a new
ASUO Constitution which they
thought would better allow them
to represent the students.
Last year, at the instigation of
ASUO President John Lnvaas and
primarily through the efforts of
Parliamentarian Bob Boflay. the
(Operations of student government
tyere further refined with a new
set of bylaws and a set of rules
for the operation of the ASUO
$enate.
! What they came up with is a
system of committees, patterned
to some extent after the struc
ture of Congress.
Briefly here’s the way the Sen
ate will operate under the sys
tem devised by Bollay and ap- j
proved by the Senate last year:
Bills may be presented by “any
interested party”—senator, non
spnator, or a group—to ASUO
Vice President Tom Clark, the
Senate presiding officer'' Clark
then sends the bill to one of five
committee chairmen — campus
planning, academic and cultural,
governing, public affairs, budge
tary.
Committee Hearings
! That chairman then calls a
committee hearing on the bill,
notifies its sponsors of the time
and place of the hearing,
j The committee reports its ac
tion on the bill at the next Sen
ate meeting. Then there are three
things that can happen.
; 1. If it’s passed by the commit-!
tee it goes on the agenda for
Sjenate action.
I 2. If it fails in committee it
cpn still be called up by a vote of'
one-third of the Senate,
i 3. If the bill fails in committee
oj* the committee fails to report!
op the bill within 14 days, Vice
President Clark may discharge
the committee and present the
bjll to the Senate anyway.
i Tile Senate can also completely
bypass the committees, put bills
directly on the Senate floor with
a! two-thirds vote.
I After the Senate passes a bill
ill goes to ASUO President Steve
Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt may
vpto the bill and return it to the
sjenate. (Legislation vetoed by
the president may be passed over
his veto by a two-thirds vote of
the Senate.)
President’s Powers
Goldschmidt also has a num
ber of other powers under that
two - year - old constitution. He
nominates student members of
student-faculty committees, ap
points members of ASUO com
mittees, prepares the ASUO bud
get that last year reached about
$7,100, and is usually a major
author of much Senate legislation.
Vice President Clark presides
over the Senate, runs the ASUO
elections, and is the president’s
right hand man.
Among some of the major is
sues the Senate will probably
consider this year:
• Faculty evaluation forms. A
Senate-sponsored form distributed
in some classes winter term at
tempted to obtain a student evalu
ation of .professors. But .the com
mittce in charge of the form de
cided it wasn’t a good one after
all, junked it and started over.
Steve Smith, who's not a sena
tor, and Sociology Professor Roy
H. Rodgers started experiments
on a new evaluation plan last
spring. They'll be the main ones
in charge of getting a form in
operation here — with Senate
backing.
• The National Student Asso
ciation. NSA barely survived an
attempt to cut its budget last
year and virtually remove its
effectiveness. The Senate voted
to cut the budget but the Student
Union and Educational Activities
Budget Board, which controls all
budgets that come out of student
fees, restored NSA’s money.
But that Senate vote indicated
NS A will probably be watched
closely this year to make sure it
performs a service to University
students. In his campaign last
spring. President Goldschmidt put
heavy emphasis on NSA’s im
portance to the campus.
• Further revisions in the con
I stitution and by laws. Bollay
liasn't completed his bylaw-writ
! ing project yet and there was
some criticism of “slopping word
ing" in the constitution last
! spring.
• Goldschmidt's programs. The
| ASUO president called for half
a dozen new ASUO programs in
his campaign, will probably have
plenty of bills ready for the
i Senate.
IT'S FASCINATING
D.Q.
5c
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