PFC: Committee allows Vice Chair Quiroz to rescind verbal resignation
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Commentator’s mission and goals
because they didn’t fall in line with
its context, which he said PFC mem
bers have the right to do under the
Clark Document.
“To me, that was my job,” he said.
“According to the Clark Document, I
was doing my job.”
Cortez said it is up to the court to
decide whether he fulfilled his duties.
“I haven’t really done any viola
tions,” he said.
He added that the PFC lacks clear
information from the administration
about how to deal with “some issues
that come up along the way” in the
PFC process.
“No one told us how to go about
it,” he said.
Kieffer said the grievances have
been filed to interrupt the purpose of
the PFC and not to create a forum for
discussion of the issue.
“ (The grievances) have been more
of an attack than constructive use of
the ASUO process,” he said.
Kieffer said he had no comment on
whether actions during the meeting
merited grievances, saying students
should inform themselves about the is
sue as much as possible. He said sever
al students signed a petition in support
of the Commentator without knowing
all the facts about the issue and later
apologized to him for signing.
“There have been lots of state
ments that aren’t the whole story,”
he said. “I feel students need to know
the whole story.”
An ongoing conflict
The injunctions are one of several
actions resulting from the hearing, at
which the PFC rejected the Commen
tator’s mission statement before a
crowd of about 110 people and
Quiroz verbally resigned. The Com
mentator is a journal of conservative
opinion that provides an “alternative
to the left-wing orthodoxy promoted
by other student publications.”
The controversy began when
Quiroz asked the committee in De
cember not to approve the journal’s
mission statement after Senator Toby
Hill-Meyer complained that state
ments published in the Commentator
about the senator’s transgender iden
tity made Hill-Meyer feel unsafe.
Hill-Meyer resigned from the Sen
ate, effective today, citing
safety concerns.
“I had offered a resignation effec
tive at the end of this term. Howev
er, it has been a real struggle to try
to continue my duties as a senator
and on the EMU board for the past
five weeks,” Hill-Meyer said in a
written statement. “As hostility to
wards transpeople and myself
specifically has escalated over this
time, I’ve been increasingly feeling
unsafe on campus.”
Hill-Meyer said the senator will
continue to “work with those trying
to resolve the issue of safety
on campus.”
Although PFC members said be
fore the meeting they would recall
the decision, the PFC became dead
locked over issues of viewpoint neu
trality and the legal implications of
their decision.
Quiroz remains on PFC
Near the end of last week’s meet
ing, Quiroz stood and announced his
resignation. Because Quiroz did not
submit a written resignation, he re
tained his position on the PFC. Verbal
resignations by student government
officials also can be rescinded,
Creighton-Neiwert said.
“At times when someone resigns in
the heat of the moment, it can be
worked out that they can rescind their
resignation or a supervisor can rescind
it,” she said.
She said it is not clear whether the
executive, senate or PFC chair would
have the power to rescind a resignation
on a person’s behalf.
Strauss said Quiroz rescinded
his resignation.
He added that the Green Tape Note
book doesn’t include “hard and fast”
guidelines in regard to resignations,
saying the executive and PFC looked at
past precedents. He said University
classified staff who resign “under emo
tional distress” can rescind verbal res
ignations within a reasonable time.
“We feel that (Quiroz) deserves the
same protection,” he said.
Creighton-Neiwert said she knew of
multiple situations when a member of
the student government resigned dur
ing a meeting, some of which have be
come final.
She added that the court can rule
based on precedents set by its past de
cisions when making its ruling.
“The Green Tape is not their only
alternative for making a decision,”
she said.
Graf said it is a pity Quiroz was al
lowed back on the PFC due to a techni
cality. He said Quiroz “has a personal
bone to pick with us” and is creating
an unsafe environment through his
conduct, something Quiroz had ac
cused the Commentator staff of creat
ing through speech in its magazine.
“There’s a big difference between
conduct and speech,” he said.
He said Quiroz should either re
sign or be removed by student gov
ernment leaders.
“I’m pretty optimistic because I
think through Mason’s actions he’s
proven he’s incapable of holding of
fice,” Graf said.
The final decision
ASUO President Adam Petkun and
Senate President James George already
said Hiesday in an Emerald guest edi
torial that “should PFC manage the
unanimous vote needed to defund the
Commentator, we will work to prevent
the proposal from moving through Stu
dent Senate, after which it would meet
certain veto by the Executive.”
Graf said the final budget decision
lies with the administration because
President Dave Frohnmayer has to sign
off on all budget recommendations
made by the student government.
Graf said while the staff had heard
many rumors about ASUO members
meeting with members of the admin
istration, the administration had made
no effort to contact the Commentator
about ongoing issues.
“I think the administration put too
much faith in student government,”
he said.
On Tuesday evening, at least four
members of the PFC and at least two
University administrators held a
closed-door meeting in the EMU with
out notifying the Emerald. Creighton
Neiwert initially denied access to the
Emerald, saying the assembled mem
bers were not making a decision and
the meeting wasn’t a public meeting,
before allowing an Emerald represen
tative to sit in on the meeting.
Earlier that afternoon, Cortez said
PFC members and the administration
planned to meet at 6 p.m. to discuss
how to resolve the Commentator issue.
“(The meeting), that’s just to show
the PFC is willing to look at this issue
further ... and solve it without affect
ing both parties,” he said. “The meet
ing with the administration is to come
up with a conclusion.”
A call to action
Most recently, 44 student leaders,
including Petkun and George, and
eight faculty members released a call
to action on Tuesday
condemning the PFC’s action on the
Commentator budget. The state
ment, which was issued in conjunc
tion with the Center for Campus Free
Speech, in Chicago, calls for the PFC
to reconsider its decision and to fund
the Commentator "based on their
programmatic goals and their contri
bution to the public debate.”
“We, the students, faculty and ad
ministrators of the University of Ore
gon, believe that the Programs Fi
nance Committee’s recent decision to
reject The Commentator’s (sic) mis
sion statement, and thus deny their
eligibility for student fee funding is
wrong,” according to the statement.
“It implicates the free speech rights of
all students, especially those associ
ated with that publication.”
The statement said the decision
violated the principle of viewpoint
neutrality the U.S. Supreme Court
created in its ruling in Board of Re
gents of the University of Wisconsin
System v. Southworth.
“We believe that the fee system
that we have in place at the Univer
sity of Oregon is sound, and we are
confident that it provides sufficient
checks and balances to prevent this
ill-advised decision from being the
final decision,” the statement said.
“Still, it should never have come
to this.”
Petkun, who raised objections to
the decision during the meeting, said
in a Center for Campus Free Speech
press release that he will work to
maintain an environment of learning
at the University.
“The whole idea of going to col
lege is to learn,” he said in the re
lease. “You just can’t learn if you’re
restricting certain ideas just because
they’re offensive or controversial. I
don’t agree with what The Commen
tator (sic) has to say, but I’ll fight to
make sure they can say it. ”
Students file complaints
Other students filed five grievances
with the student government in the
wake of last week’s fiery budget hear
ing, Senate Ombudsmen Stephanie
Erickson said.
Oregon Commentator Associate
Editor Oily Ruff filed three grievances
Friday on behalf of the journal of
conservative opinion, alleging mis
conduct by PFC members Quiroz,
Cortez and Kieffer, Graf said.
Graf said the primary grievance
was against Quiroz because he has
created “an unsafe environment for
staff members.” He said Quiroz
flipped off an associate of the Com
mentator as he left the Feb. 1
PFC meeting.
Graf said the grievances also stem
from concerns that the three PFC
members have violated Section 2.3 of
the ASUO Constitution “by actually
stating it is not necessary to be view
point-neutral” during the hearing.
The section specifies that “no agency
or program of the ASUO shall make
any rule or take any action abridging
the privileges and immunities of any
person or program under the Consti
tution and laws of the United states
or the State of Oregon, or the rules of
the University of Oregon, or the
ASUO Constitution.” The South
worth decision states that student
groups must be funded in a view
point-neutral manner.
“(Cortez and Kieffer) both plainly
stated that it is not necessary to ad
here to the concept of viewpoint neu
trality,” Graf said.
Senator Nick Hudson also filed a
grievance alleging that Quiroz has
not fulfilled his duties as PFC vice
chair because he has not recorded
minutes of PFC meetings and has
missed three meetings.
Erickson said she may wait to han
dle those grievances until the court
makes its decision.
Third-year law student and former
PFC Chairman Adrian Gilmore filed a
grievance against someone from an
ASUO program over a personal con
flict that occurred at the meeting, Er
ickson said. She said the grievance
will likely be referred to the executive
because it involves a program.
Gilmore said he filed the grievance
the day following last week’s meeting
because: "I was mad somebody
would physically threaten and want
to fight me in a public meeting.”
However, he said Tuesday evening
that he would retract the grievance
today because the man was not act
ing on behalf of the ASUO and be
cause the executive couldn’t do any
thing about it anyway.
“He got a free pass and that’s life,”
Gilmore said.
Creighton-Neiwert said recent ac
tions show the University has a “solid
fee process” that ensures student
money is correctly allocated.
“You can see there’s a reason for
the three branches of student govern
ment,” she said.
parkerhowell@dailyemerald.com
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