For the first meeting of the school year, the ASUO Senate had important updates for the Sexual Assault Support Services contract, as well as having an in-depth discussion on how to spend surplus funds the best way possible for special requests.
ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz and Vice President Greg Mills spoke to Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes about the renewal of the SASS contract on Monday, which has been expired since July. The delay on the contract was due to Senate voting last year to make a SASS position that focuses primarily on UO students. The administration had concerns about the position because if the University would be paying for the employee the SASS worker would be a mandatory reporter of sexual assault.
During Monday’s meeting, no progress was made on renewing the contract, but on Tuesday Dotters-Katz spoke to Holmes which lead to a compromise.
“We’re at a point where we’ve found an agreement that will be satisfactory for everybody,” Dotters-Katz said.
According to Dotters-Katz, the position will be housed off-campus but the position description will stay the same. With the position being housed off-campus, Dotters-Katz said that the position will no longer be a mandatory reporter.
Although Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students Paul Shang was present at the meeting, Shang didn’t speak on behalf of the administration.
Dotters-Katz is hoping that the new contract will be written and signed by the end of the week.
The ASUO has $320,007 in the surplus, a much larger amount then what is usually available in the surplus for a year. To spend the money more wisely, the Senate spoke about what new rules to create when dispersing the money during special requests.
“The surplus in all reality shouldn’t really exist,” said ASUO Senate Vice President Taylor Allison. “Surplus is money that is returned from what wasn’t spent. Surplus is more of a privilege than a right.”
According to Allison, one of the biggest expenditures in special requests are funding groups to go to conferences and retreats that are off campus. If a group makes a special request for a conference or retreat, Allison suggested that there should be a cap at $250 for each person that plans on going to the conference or retreat.
The idea had mixed reactions from the Senate, with Senators Quinn MacLean and Lexie Olson objecting to the idea the most.
“With conferences, I can speak for the J-School that they are huge for students,” Olson said. Allison’s ideas as well as some of the other ideas that were proposed about the surplus won’t be voted on until the next Senate meeting.
However, one motion did pass in regards to the surplus. Sen. Jonathan Wu moved to make a motion that a group should fundraise at least 50 percent of the funds that they need for a conference before they make their special request with Senate. The motion passed after Sen. Brent Rovianek’s amendment to the motion being that if the Senate has a two-thirds vote, they’re allowed to fund more than 50 percent of a group’s expenses to travel to a conference. The motion dealt specifically with conferences and not retreats.
Matthew Miyamoto and Allison were nominated for the Senate President seat for the school year, and Amy Jones, Josh Losner and Rebecca Rhodes were nominated for Senate Vice President. Along with Marita Moffit’s nomination for Senate Treasurer, the Senate will be holding their elections for the three positions during next week’s meeting.