Election
continued from page 1
Sara Pirk also said Jacobson and
Cook's due process was violated be
cause the pair did not receive the
actual grievance filed against them
until about three hours before the
elections board made a decision.
“In the case at hand, petitioners
neither were afforded notice nor
the right to a fair hearing before the
elections board,” Pirk said.
But the court added that next
year’s elections board needs to clar
ify rules regarding how candidates
receive grievances. Currently, no
rule exists mandating that the
board or the author of a grievance
give the other party a copy.
“The simple fact is that the elec
tions rules are inadequate,” Pirk
said in the decision. “They simply
do not provide a process that can be
followed by the candidates or the
elections board itself.”
Jacobson and Cook placed sec
ond in the primary election behind
Nilda Brooklyn and Joy Nair. The
two tickets will battle for the ASUO
Executive when the election is held
this term.
But the decision is a double blow
to third place candidates Eric Bai
ley and Jeff Oliver. Oliver filed the
grievance that removed Jacobson
and Cook. Not only did Oliver lose
in court, he and Bailey also lost a
chance to be in the general election
when Jacobson and Cook were re
turned to the ballot.
“Someone asked me how it feels
to be Al Gore,” Oliver said.
Oliver, the current ASUO hous
ing advocate, said he is filing a mo
tion to make the court elaborate on
how future candidates can cam
paign in residence halls.
“As a candidate I can let this go,
but as housing advocate, I have to
advocate for student voices,” Oliver
said.
But Jacobson said that regardless
of unanswered questions about
campaigning and grievances, he
and Cook are pleased with the
court’s decision.
“We were very happy with every
aspect of the outcome,” Jacobson
said.
The court also denied a chal
lenge by a group of student senators
to the Multicultural Center’s ballot
measure creating a cultural pro
gramming fund, but the court’s rul
ing slightly altered the measure’s
wording to make it clearer — and
altered the future structure of the
MCC itself.
The court agreed with the sena
tors’ argument that if students vot
ed in favor of the fund, non-elected
MCC board members would be al
locating incidental fee money. The
fund would be an avenue for small
er cultural forums to receive mon
ey for events and programs.
The court ruled that, by 2003,
MCC board members must be elect
ed by the student body. Justice
Ashan Awan said in the court deci
sion that it could not legally dissolve
the current MCC board immediately.
But the court didn’t go so far as to
rule the fund would override the
senate’s fee allocation procedure.
Chief Justice Rob Raschio said al
though the senate is the main group
assigned to give fee money to stu
dent groups, no rules exist barring
other groups from doing the same
thing. He said he and rest the rest of
the court believe the fund would
not take away the senate's power.
“They’re asking for an • event
fund, basically,’’ Raschio said.
But Sen. Mary Elizabeth Madden
said that reasoning seemed illogi
cal, and the senate will have less
power with the MCC giving money
to ASUO groups.
“I don’t see how they can’t say
it’s a shadow senate,” Madden said.
“It would serve a limited portion of
activities.”
The court also said the MCC has
the ability to meet national laws re
quiring fee money to be given with
out political bias. Last year, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that student
fees must be allocated on a view
point-neutral basis, and the sena
tors worried the MCC would only
give money for speakers and events
that matched the board’s multicul
tural viewpoints and objectives.
But Raschio said the key is that
the MCC can make the fund view
point-neutral if students vote for it.
“The MCC still has a lot of work
to do to make their procedure
ready,” Raschio said. “And they
still need to win the election.”
Controversies
continued from page 1
Green Tape Notebook, which lays out the rules
governing the ASUO, says that incidental fee
money cannot be used for fundraising efforts.
“When it’s used to write fundraising let
ters or to put on events,” PFC member
Lawrence Gillespie said, “then they’re just
making that money and they’re making it off
the students and that’s not right.”
As a result, the PFC began telling groups
they could not use incidental fee money to
generate fundraising money — at least for
the next year until the issue is resolved.
There were some student groups that
were not happy about the decision.
“I believe all the unions will either die or
reduce the quality of their programs,” said
Andreas Georgiades, co-director for the, In
ternational Student Association. “You can
not provide high quality programs with a
menial budget.”
But the ticket revenue issue was only one
of many crackdowns.
For years, groups have offered students
work study in place of the more commOnly
used stipends. As paid-hourly positions,
someone must verify that the students
worked the number of hours they said they
did. But without an official supervisor to
sign off on the students’ hours, there is a
chance cheating can take place.
As a result, the PFC decided to take away
the work study option from every group that
does not have a faculty supervisor — leaving
only a few groups, such as the Women’s
Center and the Multicultural Center, able to
take advantage of the program.
In the meantime, the PFC is working on a
“checklist” to standardize how work study
is distributed.
The PFC implemented another standard
this year — this one is for the stipends that
groups pay their student workers. The
stipend model splits student positions into
different categories and designates a certain
amount for each.
With the standardization came a one-year
freeze on adding any more stipend positions
to student groups.
Most were happy about the change, PFC
Chairwoman Mary Elizabeth Madden said.
But there were a handful that could not get
the extra position they wanted or were not
happy with the amount they were allotted.
PFC member Arlie Adkins disagreed with
the new stipend system, claiming it took
away control from student groups and was
too rigid in determining amounts.
“It increased spending by so much this
year [and] it wasn’t worth it,” Adkins said.
“When I saw us cutting programming budg
ets and increasing stipends, it just seemed
not that right to me.”
Exiting the budget hearings and entering
a hearing of its own, the PFC was asked to
defend some of its decisions before the
ASUO Student Senate.
When the PFC presented its budget to the
senate in February, Sen. Andy Elliott ques
tioned the spending habits of several groups.
One was the purchase of blankets for speak
ers and graduating students of the Native
American Student Union.
“If they genuinely want to know [why
NASU gives away blankets], rather than just
complaining about it, then they need to
show up at a few NASU meetings,” Multi
cultural Center Director Erica Fuller said.
“Don’t complain about it if you don’t under
stand it.”
But Elliott said that the purpose of the
gifts was not the issue.
“I understand why they’re doing it. I think
that it’s worthwhile,” Elliott said. “I just
don’t think the student body should be pay
ing for it.”
Elliott also noticed misuse of fees by the
Chinese Student Scholar Association, which
last year used leftover money to buy gifts for
its officers. In addition, the CSSA bought
tents and flashlights with student incidental
fee money.
Even with the questions, the PFC budget
passed quickly through the senate, with
only three senators opposed.
PFC
continued from page 1
ASUO programs, got its own share
of the load done in time. And, ac
cording to some groups and com
mittee members, it was done with
only a few kinks along the way.
“I think there were a lot of pro
grams we were able to help,” said
PFC chairwoman Mary Elizabeth
Madden, but “obviously we could
n’t give everybody everything they
wanted.”
Those on both sides — the groups
presenting their budgets and the
PFC members deciding on them —
said the fee allocation process was
efficient and fair, and that the com
mittee members put a lot of time
and energy into the hearings.
But there were issues, many said,
that could have been prevented by
more preparation.
PFC member Lawrence Gillespie
said the PFC should have been giv
en more training. That way, when
complicated situations arose — as
they often did — the members
would have known what their juris
diction was.
“We were kind of just thrown into
it,” Gillespie said. “I know that
learning curve could’ve been lev
eled out more if we had been trained
better, [and] some of that was due to
late appointments.”
ASUO President Jay Breslow did
not finish filling the empty posi
tions on the board until late fall
term, which cut short the PFC’s
timeline. All but one PFC member
was new this year.
Sen. Jackie Ray said that because
of unfamiliarity with the process,
the PFC let a lot of things slide early
on that it later had to re-examine.
About halfway through the budg
et hearings, the PFC was criticized
for passing a lot of budget increases,
and members didn’t know how to
deal with the issue. But, Ray said, it
was only a matter of time before the
PFC hit its groove and became com
fortable with the process.
“By the end, we were more in
tune with each other,” she said.
“And we were criticizing every
thing down to a couple dollars.”
The PFC members were not the
only ones feeling unprepared.
“The way I see it, the whole
process was too formal,” said An
dreas Georgiades, co-director for the
International Student Association.
“Let’s not forget: We’re not lawyers
...we’re student leaders.”
Georgiades expressed frustration
with the complex process — filled
with parliamentary procedure —
and with the lack of preparation.
“It’s way too complicated for stu
dent leaders,” he said. “I believe
you need to take classes before, like
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PFC101.”
MCC Director Erica Fuller echoed
that sentiment, saying the process is
completely new for many students
and can be intimidating.
Fuller said her job is to help stu
dent groups with things like this, so
she had to learn the process. But,
she added, she also has 40 hours a
week to do it.
“Students don’t have 40 hours to
memorize the PFC process,” she
said. “You almost need to be that
prepared.”
Part of the problem may be the
high turnover rate for both the PFC
board and many student groups, said
Alan Tauber, president of the Future
Lawyers Association. The leadership
changes, and that means students
who are presenting or deciding on
budgets start fresh each year.
“That’s confusing, especially
r
since you’re asked to answer for the
decisions of those who made those
decisions in the past,” he said.
Even so, Tauber said he thought
the PFC handled the budgets fairly by
asking good questions and consider
ing the groups’ fundraising efforts.
A few groups said communica
tion between them and the commit
tee could have been better, but
members of the PFC said the groups
got out of it what they put in.
One recurring issue involved a
benchmark meeting held fall term
to estimate the necessary increases
for next year. If a group did not at
tend the benchmark meeting, the
PFC was less likely to give it all of
the increases it sought.
A handful of groups did not
show up to the meeting, and ex
plained during their hearings that
they didn’t receive any notice.
But the PFC board said it was
sure it sent out an e-mail to all
groups.
Communication within the PFC
itself came to a halt mid-February
when PFC member Aaron Week
stopped showing up for hearings.
Members were unsure what was
going on, but a few weeks later
Week submitted his resignation —
post-dated to the day he stopped
attending.
While Madden said Week’s fail
ure to appear was understandable
and did not affect the PFC’s abilities
too much, Ray said his absences
caused aggravation within the com
mittee.
Ray said that if Week knew there
was a problem, he should have
told the PFC, and that the hearings
were taking a toll on everyone —
not just Week.
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