Senators share opinions of year's achievements
The stipend model and a resolution against playing teams
with indigenous mascots are among those discussed
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Reforming pay rates for student
leaders and monitoring the incidental
fee are among the challenges new
ASUO Student senators face next year,
former senators told the Emerald. The
former legislators shared their opinions
on the Senate’s greatest achievement
this year, what the Senate could have
done differently and what senators
should do next year.
Although at least 24 students sat on
the 18-member Senate this year, the
Emerald contacted those still on the
Senate as of May 24. Of those, only
two will return next year.
Arthur Jeiranian, Seat 4
Jeiranian said every decision the
Senate makes is important, but he
couldn’t comment on a specific de
cision because he was only on the
Senate for a few months. He said
the Senate should have voted on
changes to its rules. Lack of time
and scheduling conflicts prevented
the vote, he said.
“It would have been nice to have
people with more experience, even
though people with experience are on
next year’s Senate,” he said.
Jeiranian said he will remain at the
University next year and may be in
volved with student government.
Jack Crocifisso, Seat 7
The Senate succeeded in preventing
students from paying for 24/7 library
service during Dead Week and Finals
Week, Crocifisso said.
“It was a service that was being pro
vided to a lot of students,” he said,
adding that there seems to
be a trend to make students pay for
more services.
He said senators especially need
to watch the Student Recreation
Center budget.
"Their budget was definitely one
that increased dramatically this last
year, and I would predict that it would
continue to increase, but it needs to do
so responsibly, and I think that’s the
responsibility of the Senate to look at
that,” he said.
Crocifisso also said he wished the
Senate would have had more time
to deliberate over some of the major
programs’ budgets, some of which
“came down to the wire.” He also
said he disagreed with the injunc
tions the ASUO Constitution Court
placed against three members of the
Programs Finance Committee.
“I personally ... didn’t agree with
the reasoning behind them,” he
said. “I don’t know if the Senate
could have taken a different re
sponse to it than it did.”
He said the stipend model is an “ob
vious, glaring thing that is going to
come up next year. ”
Crocifisso said he was appointed by
the ASUO Executive to the EMU Board
of Directors for next year.
Austin Shaw-Phillips,
Seat 12
Shaw-Phillips said he was im
pressed by the abilities and
commitment of his peers in the gov
ernment this year. But he said the way
government leaders handled the Sun
river incident backfired, overshadow
ing efforts of government members.
“Not to beat the subject to death,
but I would have liked to see indi
vidual senators take responsibility
for what happened on the retreat,”
he said.
He also said the stipend model still
needs to be addressed, although he is
confident it will be.
Shaw-Phillips said he hopes to
work for AmeriCorps after graduating
this year.
Rona Yang, Seat 13
Yang wrote in an e-mail that the
Senate’s most important decision con
cerned the stipend model “because (it)
affects more than just one group or
one section of the University.” She also
said the Senate should have handled
the stipend model issue differently.
“I’m not sure how I would have
done it differently but I do regret not
working on the stipend model... the
first time around, over break,” she
wrote. “I know that we all worked
hard to correct the problem, but proba
bly a little too late.”
She said the inaction with proposed
Senate rules also should have been
addressed differently.
“Our rules committee worked very
hard all year adding new rules and
changing old ones,” she wrote. “Since
we did not approve these at the last
senate meeting, they are now given to
the new senators without explanation
of them. ... I don’t think that is fair to
the new senators or the old ones who
worked so diligently on them.”
Yang said sending students to
conferences for any purpose should
be examined.
“I think that next year people
should address, how much is this re
any neiping me wnoie
student body if only a
limited number of stu
dents are able to go or
certain students are
picked to go, be it their
abilities and how they
came about those abili
ties,” she wrote.
Yang added that the Senate needs to
analyze food holding.
“I guess this is more for the PFC, but
I think senators need to address this
and make sure it really will help the
development of students and not just
to help feed people,” she said.
Yang said she hopes to obtain a po
sition in the ASUO Controllers’ office
next year.
BarettVolkmann, Seat 14
The Senate didn’t adequately ad
dress the stipend model issue, Volk
mann wrote in an e-mail.
“(The) PFC cut stipends to get to
their benchmark after over allocating
funds,” he wrote. “The Senate’s re
sponse to this was to give additional
funding to stipends, putting the actual
PFC budget over benchmark. The
stipend model issue needs to be ad
dressed next year. ”
Volkmann wrote that he will be a
program representative to the EMU
Board. He will also be the Greek advo
cate for the executive.
Nick Hudson, Seat 15
The Senate’s resolution
condemning University sports
teams from playing teams with
“indigenous mascots” was impor
tant, Hudson said.
“I think that was really important
because we took a stance that may
nave oeen unpopular
with the athletic de
partment, but it was
very important for na
tive students,” he said.
Hudson also said
“reshaping the stipend
model” was a major
Senate action. Although the Senate
wasn’t fully able to address the issue,
the resolution created fairness across
the board.
He said the Senate should have act
ed differently on the PFC’s final budget
because the committee exceeded its
benchmark. He said 7 percent increas
es every year hurt the incidental fee
and students’ pocketbooks.
“That is something that needed to
be dealt with in a different way,”
he said.
Hudson said the Senate needs to ad
dress the stipend model by decreasing
the amount of stipends and creating a
fair solution.
He said he will work toward that
goal as finance coordinator for the ex
ecutive next year.
Stephanie Stoll, Seat 16
Stoll said she was proud of the Sen
ate’s work to secure library funding
and of its resolution against playing
teams with indigenous mascots.
“(The resolution) was really impor
tant for us to take action on,” she said.
“I think it was important for us to
show our support for the groups that
were affected by that. ”
She said the Senate should have
SENATE, page 12
PART 2 OF 2
Today: Remaining representa
tives consider their terms in office.
Tuesday: Senators reflect on suc
cesses and failures.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
O!
2005 Summer
Session Classes
Begin June 20
Register for
Summer Classes
Book Your Summer in Oregon
Pick up your free summer catalog today in the Summer Session office
(333 Oregon Hall), at the UO Bookstore, or read it online. You can speed your
way toward graduation by taking required courses during summer.
Check Out Our Website!
http://uosummer.uoregon.edu
EO/AA/ADA institution committed to cultural diversity
hREfiflN DAILY FMFRfll D
your independent student newspaper
I Eugene VAN & CAR Rental
022428
342-6161 Ext. 2
Visit us at www.elmcars.com
MON-FRI 8-6 • SAT 8-5 • SUN 10-5
Eugene Lincoln-Mercury SHOWROOM
380 Goodpasture Island Road
Valley River AUTO Center
Credit Card or CASH Deposits
Eugene VAN
& CAR Rental
• 7, 12 & 15 Passenger Vans
• Sport Utility 4x4 Vehicles & Cargo Vans
• Sporty Compacts, Luxury Cars
& Convertibles
• Economy to Luxury
• FREE Local Pick-up (some restrictions)
• Low Daily, Weekly and Monthly Rates
• Insurance replacement rates & billing
ALL DRIVERS MUST BE 21 OR OLDER
iSAVE 10%
| on standard weekly or daily rate
I • Offer applies to the standard daily or weekly
I rate but does not i nclude taxes or surcharges.
[ • Offer may not be used in conjunction with any
| other promotional offer or discounted rate.
Ano'thev Mort—Trsd
Suddcss Story-..
Spring Students of the Term
If you can identify with
one or more of these,
then you are a non
traditional student:
• Delayed enrollment or
transferred from Jr. college
• Over the age of 24
• Part-time or
distance student
• Work full-time
• Did not complete
High school
• Have dependents
other than spouse
• Financially independent
from your parents
From left to right:
Brandi Farish: 26, Senior in
Anthropology and Philosophy enjoying the
human experience and life-long learning,
Kimberly Gwynne: Environmental
Science major with two kids (18 and 9),
struggling to graduate,
Shimeon Greenwood: 23, pre-business
major who transferred from CCC, and is
the treasurer of the UO Pre-Law Society.