Tonight’s meeting was marked by a tense public forum regarding the hiring process for the senate positions to be confirmed at the meeting.
Haley Williams, an applicant for ASUO Senate, spoke in the public forum to communicate her displeasure with what she described as an unprofessional and unwelcoming experience in her interview for the position. She said she was disappointed by a lack of attentiveness and a general sense of dismissal during her interview and that she expected more from the ASUO.
Williams was the first of two speakers to talk about their unpleasant experience with the hiring process followed by examination of formal complaints brought up by Senate before the confirmations of new members. Following special requests, the assembly read and discussed the complaints for an allotted twenty minutes, including time for Executive input.
Ombudsperson Samantha Cohen, along with many other members of ASUO Senate, expressed great disappointment with the process and addressed some of her complaints to Interior VP Tran Dinh and ASUO Chief of Staff Lamar Wise.
“Do we really want ASUO to have the messy reputation it has had in the past? I am disappointed in you, executive,” Senator Cohen said.
Wise then addressed Senate in defense of the fairness in the hiring process.
“I’m proud of the people we’ve chosen…we picked them because we vetted them,” Wise said.
The candidates selected by Exec were brought before the assembly for confirmation after the issue was thoroughly discussed, but the controversy surrounding the hiring process was returned to throughout the interviews. Senators Oh and Klosno voted nay on each elected position as a reaction to the issue of lack of communication between Exec and Senate throughout the earlier stages of the hiring process. In addition, Senator Oh asked a few candidates if they would have gone about hiring that way and if they believed the decision was fair.
Executive seemed to have picked the right people to put in front of Senate because each position was confirmed and all five vacant Senate seats were filled. The process was far from brief, however; almost every candidate was vetted for 30-40 minutes and the meeting was not adjourned until 11:55.
Confirmations for senators were as follows: Senator Aven-itza De Primavera for seat 19 (Journalism and History), Senator Quang Truong for seat 4 (EMU Board), Senator William Iversen for seat 11 (Business and Economics), Senator Lizeth Marin for seat 17 (Law and Social Sciences), and Senator Sami Tayeh for seat 15 (Psychology and Cultural Studies).
In addition, Martin Martinez-Santoyo and ThuyAnn Nguyen were confirmed to the PFC, Kaitlyn Fallone as an EMU appointee and Amy Laube to ACFC At-large. Another significant confirmation that involved a great deal of discussion was that of Austin Palacios to the Constitutional Court as an Associate Justice.
For information on ASUO, the new senators, and movings within the senate visit the ASUO website or follow the senate meetings every Wednesday online.