T EDITORIAL
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Court justices look more like court jesters
■ OUR OPINION: From the Sari
Wisch fiasco to elections com
plaints, this year’s ASUO Consti
tution Court has proved itself to be
both incompetent and inactive
Could anything else in the
ASUO go wrong this year?
It started with the Student
Senate being unable to cen
sure one of its own for overstepping
her bounds. Then the newly elected
Executive was accused of running a
dirty campaign. Now, the Constitu
tion Court is the latest perpetrator of
yet another student government
gaffe, shaming the last of the three
branches of government.
Since the beginning of the year, the
court has been rife with problems.
First, it heard the case of Programs Fi
nance Committee Senator Sari
Wisch. The court barred her from
voting in the Multicultural Center’s
budget because she changed the
MCC’s hearing date, mistakenly
thinking the group’s new mission
statement had not been approved.
The court issued its decision the
same night as the hearing, but exactly
when the written opinion was issued
no one really knows. Certainly, the
Emerald was never notified. The
opinion, which is the reasoning be
hind the court’s decision, is nearly as
important as the actual decision it
self. Without an opinion, it is nearly
impossible to appeal a decision.
Wisch then appealed her case to
President Frohnmayer, whose office
remanded the case back to the court.
The reason: the court’s punishment
violated her First Amendment rights.
Unfortunately, more than two
months later, the court has still not
revisited the matter.
Amusingly, Wisch filed for the
court’s non-fulfillment of duties two
weeks ago, and asked former ASUO
President Matt Scotten for the court’s
impeachment. Scotten passed the
buck, as he has been wont to do dur
ing the last two months of his term, to
next year’s Executive, Bill Miner and
Ben Unger.
Which brings us to the next big
case, the Elections Board debacle.
Miner and Unger’s campaign was ac
cused of postering illegally off-cam
pus by Judah Eckenberg, a senior ma
joring in mathematics, and Chris
Kantrowitz and Farrah Bostic, both
members of the Oregon Commenta
tor. Kantrowitz and Bostic also took
the Elections Board to task for failing
to forward all elections complaints to
the court. They argue the Elections
Board cannot decide on elections
complaints because of wording con
tained in the ASUO rules.
Here’s where things get pretty
complicated. Stay with us. We’ll use
small words.
The court should have appointed a
Hearings Officer. A Hearings Officer
is responsible for gathering all the
cases the court will hear and during
an election, deciding on elections
complaints.
But since the court had no idea it
was supposed to appoint a Hearings
Officer, even after the ASUO Execu
tive requested one, the court couldn’t
indict the Election Board for not fol
lowing through on its job. The Elec
tions Board had to do something with
the complaints, and since the court
certainly wouldn’t, the Elections
Board took matters into its own
hands.
It didn’t help matters when former
Elections Board Coordinator Stacey
Harding said a week before the elec
tion that all complaints had been for
warded to the Constitution Court.
She lied. The court had no idea there
were election complaints. There was
never an e-mail notification, as she
claimed. There was never an unoffi
cial notification, as she claimed.
So the court decided the elections
were legal, but it would be looking at
the election complaints, and if neces
sary, reversing the Elections Board’s
decisions.
And a week passed. The plaintiffs
waited for an opinion so they could
file an appeal. Rumors circulated that
Justice M. David Coffman disagreed
with the court and had written a dis
sent. Usually, dissents are written af
ter an opinion so certainly an opin
ion was forthcoming, everyone
thought.
More than three weeks after the
original decision was made, there
was still no opinion. Finally, on May
19, the day the Emerald ran a front
page story about Wisch calling for the
court’s removal, an opinion ap
peared.
There has been no indication the
court looked at any election com
plaints. Thus far, no complaints have
been reversed.
Thus far, the court has not revisit
ed Sari Wisch’s case.
Thus far, none of the justices have
been removed.
But then, if the court weren’t so in
competent, none of these things
would have to occur in the first
place.
This editorial represents the opinion
of the Emerald editorial board.
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LETTERS
Shirts and service
I don’t think that the city should be
changing the laws about toplessness
without some serious consideration. I
would think that it would also have to
outlaw men walking around the
downtown area with no shirts to
avoid sexual harassment lawsuits.
Sort of a great big No Shirts, No Ser
vice sign.
Patricia Fredericksen
History
Hall heroes
I would like to thank some wonder
ful people who have helped me im
mensely in reaching a goal that I’ve
been working on for most of five
years. First are the department of
chemistry and the mentors that I have
been lucky enough to learn from as an
undergraduate working in a research
lab. But for allowing me to continue
the great experiences that I’ve had in
the department and the lab, I wish to
thank several people in Oregon Hall.
My story is a long one; here’s the
short of it. My parents ran out of mon
ey. I applied for financial aid. When
my subsidized loans wouldn’t cover
costs (I’m proud to be a Californian
American), my parents applied for
PLUS loans. This was January or so.
The money still isn’t here. Bad timing
and luck on my part saw my folks’ ap
plication lost in a big change of loan
servicers. There are other students
with the same troubles, and the office
of financial aid has been working hard
to help us out.
With the story told, I would like to
thank Assistant Financial Aid Direc
tor Carol Richard, Associate Director
James Gilmour, University Registrar
Herb Chereck and especially Finan
cial Aid Office Manager Vicki Bockes.
Over the past year, these people have
helped me register for classes and find
ways to pay my rent. They have been
positive and encouraging when things
weren’t looking good for me, and 1
cannot thank them enough. You are
all a big part of the pride with which I
graduate in chemistry from the Uni
versity of Oregon.
Devin Drew
Chemistry
Dead Pioneer
Well, here we are, ending another
year with no solution to the campus
parking dilemma. Should we be sur
prised?
On tap for next year: a cap on sales
of overnight parking permits; a con
tinued effort to pave the fallow lands
of campus and perhaps another push
to store cars at Autzen.
Ironically enough, this cry for an in
creased parking supply coincides
with the dismantling of our interstate
passenger rail system.
Amtrak has already been forced to
kill the Pioneer, which served Eastern
Oregon and Idaho, and most of the
company’s Willamette Valley service
will disappear in July unless the Ore
gon Legislature acts quickly.
House Bill 3280 would provide
funds to support Amtrak’s five daily
round-trips between Portland and Eu
gene. Without this support, rail ser
vice will be curtailed to one train per
day.
Part of the solution to our parking
problem is to reduce the number of
cars on campus. Amtrak could prove
crucial in that effort; isn’t it time we
took advantage of the services offered
to us rather than paving everything in
sight?
Sean Williams
Music Education
looted
“I couldn't believe
my eyes. I ran to
my husband
screaming, ‘Torna
do! Tornado!’"
Salem resident
Stephanie Flora,
after the city was hit
with an alleged
twister on May 31
“One of the alterna
tives available to
me was simply not
to have this issue
surface. But I don’t
think that's what
the Legislature
should be about. It
should be about the
honest debate of
differences of opin
ion on issues."
Oregon Senate
President Brady
Adam, alter allow
ing an alternate ver
sion of a gay rights
bill to proceed in
the Senate
“I absolutely pan
icked. First I tried to
call my neighbors,
then I dialed 911.
He wanted in, there
was no doubt”
Days Creek, Ore.,
resident Nikki Lug
witz, after a 300
pound black bear
tried to beat its way
into her house
“My first reaction
was that I started
crying, it should
have been blown
off. It was a joke.”
Cassi Harr, a stu
dent at Portland’s
Jefferson High
School, after she
was barred from
participating in her
graduation cere
monies, along with
three other girls, af
ter she threw water
balloons at some
male classmates in
a men’s bathroom
The story “Workers j
rally against end of I
health care,"inthe
May 23 issue of the i
Emerald, wrongful-1
ly stated the Ore
gon State System |
of Higher Educa
tion wanted to end |
health care benefits j
for University clas- i
sified employees.
OSSHE’sofferto
the Oregon Public
Employees Union i
Bargaining Team
does not include an ;
end to health care I
benefits, but rather i
it does not include
an increase of
health care bene
fits.
The Emerald re
grets the error.