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Court shouldn’t have to fix PFC’s problems
■ OUR OPINION Sari Wischs
impeachment trial should have never
come before the Constitution Court
When a court decides if a defen
dant is guilty or not, the jury
will speak on each count
brought before it. “Murder in
the first degree?”
“Guilty.”
Rarely will the jury say, “Not guilty of
murder, but they did commit robbery.”
The point being, when defendants go be
fore a court, they stand trial for the crimes of
which they are accused. When the Multi
cultural Center took Programs Finance
Committee Senator Sari Wisch to trial on
Feb. 4 before the ASUO Constitution Court,
the court decided there is more to non-ful
fillment of duties than is spelled out in the
PFC by-laws. Wisch was brought before the
Constitution Court for non-fulfillment of
duties, and left enjoined from voting due to
a conflict of interest.
This case was riddled with problems
from the beginning. In her second brief to
the court, Wisch wrote she felt the MCC’s
new goal statement was exclusive rather
than inclusive. She wrote a letter to the
MCC in the middle of January saying its
budget was tabled until it went before the
ASUO Student Senate for goal-statement
approval. She was wrong. The ASUO Exec
utive approved the goal statement before
hand.
That is where the black-and-white facts
end and the million shades of gray start.
Wisch also moved the MCC’s budget
hearing back almost a month but didn’t tell
the MCC. During the open hearing, the MCC
contended a later budget hearing date
would constitute a less giving PFC. While
that is unproven in any form, it stands to
reason, especially given the fact that the
PFC is way over its benchmark this year.
There are no written rules about when a
group’s budget is heard, only that the group
must receive one week’s notice before its
hearing. No rules exist regarding who can
change the schedule or when certain
groups are to be heard.
The problem is, there aren’t even unspo
ken rules regarding the schedule. No one re
ally knows who can change what, to when
and why. Ignorance of the law is never a de
fense, but what happens when there is no
clear idea to anyone of what the law is?
With a different approach, the court near
ly burned itself midway through the hear
ing. Chief Justice Will Childs asked Wisch if
she felt she could vote and deliberate objec
tively after all the hearings she had been
subjected to. Wisch answered she could.
What sort of precedent would that set for
future groups? Pretend that one group does
n’t want a PFC member to vote on its budget
because it knows it will receive no support.
The group could, potentially, bring a peti
tion before the court and hope for a hearing.
Even if it loses, afterwards there would be a
case on record that said a court could enjoin
a member from voting because of the effect
of the case.
Luckily, the court did not give that as a
reason for enjoining Wisch.
The reason the court gave was the only
acceptable one: Wisch is an “active” mem
ber of the Jewish Student Union, one of the
groups that falls under the MCC’s “umbrel
la.” Wisch has an apparent conflict of inter
est and therefore should not deliberate or
vote on the MCC budget. PFC Senator David
Lewis, a member of the Native American
Student Union, abstained from voting due
to his appearance of a conflict of interest.
But here’s the problem. The MCC
brought Wisch to the Constitution Court for
non-fulfillment of duties. “Non-fulfill
ment” is clearly spelled out in the PFC by
laws and Wisch met none of the criteria to
be punished. Instead, the court sanctioned
her based on a different rule. Correct though
it may be, this is what is commonly known
as an “activist court.”
The court could not really punish Wisch.
She violated no known rules. The day after
Wisch wrote the tabling letter to the MCC,
she wrote another that apologized for the
misinformation from the day before. How
ever, she didn’t notify the MCC of the
change in its hearing date. No one notified
the MCC until it was too late to change the
meeting time.
This was misconduct on Wisch’s part, for
which the PFC punished her by removing
her from the committee’s vice chair post. As
the MCC’s budget tag, one could assume no
tification was her responsibility. However,
the entire PFC have access to those sched
ules. Did no one notice? Hardly.
The court puts a great deal of blame on
the PFC as a whole for all these incidents. It
was the PFC’s lack of control over its own
matters that led up to the MCC’s budget fias
co. Wisch’s apparent conflict of interest
should have been noted earlier by the PFC,
and she should have volunteered to ab
stain. The Constitution Court is not a maid
service, but if the PFC does not clean its
own house, the court may certainly do it for
them.
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board.
Bill Sizemore
The author of the
controversial
Measure 47 isn’t s|
done with politics, |
With strong sup- I
port from the na- 1
tional tax payer
movement, bizemore has his eyes
set on a future position as governor.
Jerry Green
Men’s basketball
head coach Jerry i
Green is enjoying j |
a new wave of lo- i
cal popularity and i
is a finalist for the i
lucrative head
coaching slot at A
Louisiana State ■
University.
Dr. Dre
Rapper
Dre re
cently
bought a
$3.25
million ^
house in
the San Fernando Valley. So
is he still coming “Straight
out of Compton"?
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor is recovering
quickly from brain surgery to
IcMIUVc d IWU"
inch, benign tu
mor. That’s good j
news for Taylor !
who can now ex- |
pect to celebrate l
her 65th birthday ]
at home Thurs- ;
day.
Wall Street
Investors are feeling
down right bullish
since the Dow
Jones broke the
7,000 level to reach
an all-time-high a
week ago Friday.
The Village People
The lead f
singer of ?
the 70s
disco
group, I
Victor Ed
ward Willis, was arrested for posses
sion of 45 grams of rock cocaine and
robbery in Las Vegas Saturday.
Albert Belle
The Cleveland Indian
power hitter is in trou
ble... again. Baseball's
inyiitiM yaiu
player admitted
he lost up to
$40,000 gam
bling on sports.
Legal immigrants
In accordance with the
new welfare reform bill,
500,000 of the 803,000
legal immigrants current
ly receiving some form of
welfare will have their
benefits cut off between
now and the end of
March.
Riddick Bowe
The heavyweight boxer
couldn't last three weeks in
the Marines. After his much
puoncizea en
trance into the
Marines, Bowe
had a change of
heart and
backed out after
the first weeks
of boot camp.
Brian Hill
The Orlando Mag
ic’s head coach got
the boot last week.
Despite taking the
Magic to two At
lantic Division titles,
two Eastern Confer
ence finals and one
NBA final, without
Shaq the Magic
have slumped this
year.
LtIItHS
University embarrassed
I would like to thank the ASUO for
letting 228 less students experience
the first victory Jerry Green has had
over Arizona. How much sense is
there to wait to make a statement to
University students in front of a re
gionally televised audience?
As a result of the explanation given
by the media, University students
were portrayed in a racist, insensitive
manner. We were both in the second
row of section NN at the UCLA game
and never heard one racial slur or ho
mophobic statement.
It seems the goal of the ASUO was
to portray the University student body
as racist and homophobic. We have
discussed this issue with all of our
friends who attend the games and no
body can substantiate the ASUO’s
claims.
As a result of the ASUO’s actions on
Thursday, the University’s reputation
has been unnecessarily damaged. If
this is the statement the ASUO felt it
needed to make to the University stu
dent body and local community, its
purpose would have been served at
the Washington or Washington State
games. It did not to be done in front of
a regionally televised audience.
As a result, the University’s reputa
tion has been tarnished on a regional,
perhaps national level. We are proud
to be Ducks, but we are embarrassed at
how the ASUO handled the situation.
Tim Sexton
Marketing
Mike Stair
Pre-Business Administration
Broad banning
I would like to thank those ten or so
students who crossed the line this sea
son when it came to rooting for the
Oregon basketball team. You guys fi
nally became vulgar enough to take
seats away from other deserving stu
dents who really enjoy watching the
sport and not heckling the opposite
team in such a demeaning manner.
While I think your behavior was
wrong, I believe it is the ASUO who is
way out of line! I think it is outrageous
of our student government to take
away more than 200 seats from deserv
ing students at Thursday night’s bas
ketball game on the count of ten or so
students.
If you want to root out those stu
dents causing problems, simply put
more security in the stands! If students
become vulgar toward opposing play
ers, have the security escort them out
of Mac Court. This measure is used at
football games for students who can’t
behave properly.
Currently, Mac Court is one of the
most difficult places for opposing
teams to come and play because of
how close the fans are to the court and
how loud we can get. Having grown
up in Eugene, I can remember times
when the fans weren’t very interested
in the games.
Ever since Jerry Green has revital
ized the men’s basketball program, the
games are packed and it’s an exciting
place to be. Nonetheless, the ASUO
has decided to punish everyone
through its own judge and jury system.
I would be curious to see if the
ASUO asked the men’s basketball
players and coaches their thoughts on
taking away 200 fans and the effects it
will have or the taunting the men’s
team has to put up with when they are
in a difficult arena?
Jerry Green has put an emphasis on
us as the “sixth man” and yes, a few of
us should be asked to leave for poor
behavior. However, the ASUO ban
ning more than 200 students is plainly
inexcusable.
Ryan Pape
Business
The Feb. 21 edi
torial, “Two sides
of a deep divide,"
contained a fac
tual error. ASUO
President
Matthew Scotten
and Vice Presi
dent Glen Ban
field were not the
sole decision
makers behind
the roping off of
228 student
seats at the
men's basketball
game on Feb. 20.
The 22-member
ASUO Executive
Board, of which
Scotten and Ban
field are mem
bers, made an
unanimous deci
sion to rope off
the seats. The
board is made up
of all ASUO Exec
utive officers.
The Emerald re
grets the error.
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