Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, March 01, 2004, Page 5, Image 5

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    NEWS BRIEF
Rules Committee evaluates
clarifying Green Tape
The ASUO Student Senate Rules
Committee discussed possible
changes to the ASUO Green Tape
Notebook, which contains the gov
erning documents of student govern
ment, Friday at the committee's first
meeting of the year.
Several senators said the Green
Tape Notebook could be clarified,
whether by creating clearer divisions
between the different documents or
by some other method.
"I think in some ways they can be
divided into separate documents,"
ASUO Student Senate President Ben
Strawn said.
Senate Ombudsman Mike Sher
man, who is not a member of the
Rules Committee, said he would
prefer using another method to give
the Green Tape Notebook more
clarity.
"I guess there are benefits to sepa
rating the documents, but I tend to
think that's why we have subject head
ings," Sherman said. He discussed
renumbering the rules to make them
easier to find.
The committee also is looking into
writing a "quick reference guide" to
make the Green Tape Notebook more
accessible.
The role of ASUO controllers, and
who supervises them, also emerged as
an issue. Technically, the ASUO presi
dent is supposed to manage the con
trollers, but in practice they are
supervised by the ASUO accounting
coordinator, ASUO Controller
Christina Diss said.
Strawn said the committee will
work with ASUO President Maddy
Melton to define the role of con
trollers more clearly.
The committee will meet Fridays
for the remainder of the term as part
of an annual process to evaluate
ASUO rules. At the end of the process,
the committee will vote on any
changes, which the full Student Sen
ate and ASUO Constitution Court
also must approve.
Strawn said the committee should
finish its work by May 1 to give the
Constitution Court enough time to
approve the changes before law stu
dents leave for the summer.
— Chuck Slothower
TICKETS
continued from page 1
Ticketing Services Mary Barrios said.
ASUO President Maddy Melton said
she doesn't think many students know
about the rule, and she said she will not
do anything to educate them because
she wants to see the rule changed.
ASUO Student Senate President Ben
Strawn agrees the rule is obscure, but he
said neither the Executive nor the Stu
dent Senate has the responsibility of ed
ucating the student body about the rule
"It's a (Student) Senate rule and I
don't think that the Executive necessari
ly has a responsibility to communicate
it," Strawn said, adding that students'
lack of awareness about the rule is a
problem. "I think if more people knew
about the rule we'd have serious pres
sure on us to change it. And even now
we have a substantial amount."
The ticket office isn't taking steps to
educate students about the rule, ei
ther. Barrios said it's ASUO's respon
sibility to tell students about the rule,
not the ticket office's. Barrios said she
will not post a sign about the rule.
Barrios said she construes the rule
to mean students who cannot afford
a ticket to an event cannot be denied
one. She said it's not the ticket office's
role to ask each student purchasing a
ticket whether he or she can afford it.
Tracking down tickets
The rule was created about nine
months ago by the Student Senate,
but the ticket office was only made
aware of the rule in early February.
ASUO Student Senate Ombudsman
Mike Sherman met with Barrios to in
form her of the rule after an Emerald
article revealed the ticket office was
not aware of it.
Sherman, who was on the commit
tee that created the mle last year, said
it's difficult to educate the general
public about the mle, outside of me
dia coverage.
Sherman said the Student Senate has
worked to educate student groups and
the ticket office about the rule. He said
Strawn brought up the mle at a Feb. 5
Programs Council Meeting, where rep
resentatives of each fee-receiving stu
dent group were present. Also, the Stu
dent Senate is discussing the mle with
ASUO controllers so controllers can
"help remind (student groups) when
they are putting on events."
But even if a student were aware of
the mle and requested a free ticket
from the ticket office, Barrios and
Sherman said other mles prevent the
ticket office from giving away a free
ticket. The ticket office will not
provide free tickets, and will instead
refer the student to the sponsoring
group for a ticket, Barrios said.
Early in February, multimedia de
sign undergraduate Dylan Wiggins
said he requested from the ticket of
fice a free ticket to a production of
"The Vagina Monologues," which was
partially paid for with incidental fees.
He said he was denied a ticket. Wig
gins then contacted Sherman, and
they both went to the ticket office,
where Wiggins was directed to the
ASUO Women's Center.
Wiggins said he never got there be
cause he decided the ticket wasn't
worth the trouble.
ASUO Accounting Coordinator Jen
nifer Creighton-Neiwert said she does
n't think referring a student to the spon
soring group would make it difficult for
the student to get a free ticket. The ticket
office has a list of student-group con
tacts that ticket office employees can
give to interested students, she said.
Strawn agreed.
"Most of the groups that are putting
on programming have an office," he
said. "So, I would think it would be
pretty easy (to get a hold of them)."
Barrios would not comment on
whether she thought the process makes
it difficult for students to acquire a tick
et pointing out it hasn't been an issue
because, except for one student, no
body has requested a free ticket.
Rolling back the rule
Many student-government officials
are concerned that if students take ad
vantage of the free-ticket mle, student
groups will lose an important source
of funding.
Melton said a reduction in ticket
sales could force student groups to
run major deficits because many rely
on fund raising to survive.
"I think the intention of the rule is a
good intention, but I don't think it's
practical or feasible for groups,"
Melton said. "Groups have to be able
to count on revenue."
Melton said paying for tickets is fair
because without those funds, groups
would need more incidental-fee mon
ey for events. That would mean mem
bers of the student body, many of
whom aren't interested in the event,
would be forced to pay more through
student fees.
Strawn said he's also concerned
that if the fund-raising ability of stu
dent groups is cut, they'll be forced to
ask for more student fees or cut serv
ices. He said there needs to be a bal
ance between funding a group
through fees and allowing it to raise
its own funds through ticket sales.
Friday, the Student Senate took one
Notebook requires groups
to tier event prices
There is another rule in the
Green Tape Notebook that says
student groups must price
student tickets 20 percent less
than non-student tickets.
In late January, Students of the
Indian Subcontinent charged a
flat rate of $5 for all tickets to the
Utsav celebration, in violation of
the rule. SIS co-Director Edwin
Prasad said he was never aware
tiered pricing was a rule.
ASUO Student Senate
Ombudsman Mike Sherman said
efforts have been made to clarify
that rule for student groups. The
ticket office is going to change the
forms they present to student
groups when groups approach
them about distributing tickets for
an event, Sherman said. The new
forms will reflect the rule.
Mary Barrios, director of
ticketing services for the EMU
Ticket Office, said when student
groups meet with the ticket and
scheduling offices they will be told
about the rule.
Jared Paben
of the first steps to abolish the rule. At
a Student Senate Rules Committee
meeting, the group decided to draft
new language that would negate the
current rule and require fee-paying
students to pay to enter events.
Sherman expressed concern at the
meeting, saying that charging stu
dents to enter events is double charg
ing them, and ticket costs would pro
hibit some from attending the event.
ASUO International Student Advo
cate Takenori Momiyama said groups
that haven't had events yet are ex
pressing concern that the rule will
force them to do extra fund raising to
make up for the loss in ticket income.
The committee still needs to vote
on abolishing the free-ticket rule be
fore sending it to the full Senate for
approval. The language then would
need to be approved by the ASUO
Constitution Court, Strawn said. He
said no changes will take place be
fore next year.
Contact the people/
culture/faith reporter
at jaredpaben@dailyemerald.com.
MINORITY
continued from page 1
books," he said, adding that it is im
portant to keep cases in context.
"Part of your job as a lawyer is to re
member that these cases have real
consequences," he said.
Churchill High School senior Jah
ma Levi said she attended the event
because of her interest in court shows.
"All of the lawyers seem really con
fident," she said. "Obviously law
school teaches a lot of confidence."
University law student Annette
McGee, the only black female en
rolled in the law school, said she un
derstands the importance of diversity.
"It's important that different back
grounds are represented in the law
field," she said.
McGee said the law school's lack of
diversity is a problem.
"Everyone has their own culture.
They bring a whole different perspec
tive ... It harms the majority popula
tion because they're not benefiting
from complete diversity."
Moriah Balingit is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.
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