Student government groups
plagued by complicated rules
ASUO Senate, Executive are
often faced with problematic
student group situations
News analysis
Kira Park
Freelance Reporter
With finals just a weekend away
and upcoming student government
elections in April, groups like the
ASUO Student Senate and ASUO
Executive can often find it difficult
to follow the pages and pages of
rules that control the actions of
student government.
Student senators and executive
officials, however, said this year’s
student government is doing a good
job of following rules, and when
needed, coming up with new ones.
When student government offi
cials don’t read their own rules
closely enough, there can be prob
lems. March 5, representatives from
Grupo de Capoeira, a Brazilian mar
tial arts group, found themselves
waiting more than three hours at a
senate meeting just to be told they
weren’t eligible to receive the mon
ey they were asking for. The Brazil
ian group wanted $300 to host a spe
cial ceremony, but the senator who
originally told them they could ask
for the money didn’t realize that the
group had a number of procedural
hoops to jump through.
Student Senator Andy Elliott ex
plained the March 5 meeting was an
example where the problem wasn’t
caused by any one senator; it was in
stead a general failure of the senate
not knowing the ins and outs of par
ticular rules.
Elliott and Ben Strawn, another
student senator, said the senate’s
rules and procedures go through a
rules committee that decides what
changes to make to existing rules
and sends amended rules to the full
senate for approval. If the senate has
passed any changes, they must then
be approved by the ASUO Constitu
tion Court. University administra
tion officials are consulted but do
not have any power to approve or
veto the senate’s rules. Elliott said
the senate goes on a training retreat
each year to go over the procedures
and rules for new senators to learn
and returning senators to review.
Strawn said the senate has never
purposely disobeyed its own rules.
Elliott added if the senate, as a
whole, knowingly broke one of its
own rules, it would be a “constitu
tional crisis,” and in such an event
the entire senate would have to go
before the court and could be un
seated. He said a grievance can be
filed against an individual senator
who is violating a rule, which could
lead to anything from a formal repri
mand to an impeachment hearing
with the court.
The senate uses parliamentary
procedure to help the meetings run
in an organized fashion, but it can
choose to follow those guidelines as
closely or loosely as it wants without
violating any of its rules. Elliott ex
plained the difference between rules
and parliamentary procedure is that
parliamentary procedure helps cre
ate and maintain order, and rules
create a predictable process that
must be followed and ensure fair
ness of decisions.
ASUO Vice President Ben Buzbee
said executive rule changes must be
passed in a ballot measure during gen
eral elections in order to amend the
constitution. Like the senate, the ex
ecutive goes on a weekend retreat at
the beginning of each year to familiar
ize new staff to the job and rules.
Buzbee said executive rules are
fairly well defined. When there is con
fusion, he said, it’s usually related to
student groups’ understanding about
funding and eligibility for student in
cidental fee money. He explained the
executive is working with newly rec
ognized groups to make sure they un
derstand the rules.
If a member of the executive
breaks a rule, ASUO President
Rachel Pilliod evaluates the circum
stances and severity of the situation.
Buzbee said that it has never been
an issue, but if the president or vice
president was to violate a rule, the
senate could vote for impeachment
or censorship, or the officer could be
sent to the court if at least 10 per
cent of the student body’s signatures
were gathered.
Kira Park is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Attack
continued from page 1
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Contact the reporter
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