Spring term has not been a lame duck session for the ASUO. Since the recent elections of both a new senate and new executive, members of the newly formed ASUO have been hard at work.
The ASUO president and vice presidents have hired the 2014-2105 ASUO executive staff. The complete list is available on the ASUO’s newly redesigned website.
Wednesday, May 27 marked the first meeting of the newly elected ASUO senate. The new senators made several standing rules.
According to section 2.3 of the ASUO constitution standing rules can be adopted to supersede Robert’s Rules of Order, which the senate uses to conduct its meetings. Standing rules can only be adopted by a 2/3 vote and can only be suspended, amended or rescinded by a 2/3 vote.
Senators who break a standing rule are reprimanded.
The senate voted unanimously to ban the use of social media and cellphones during senate meetings, except in cases of a family emergency. The standing rule addresses previous issues with senators using social media during meetings, specifically when groups are presenting.
In a less unanimous vote, the senate created a standing rule to only fund up to 50 percent of conferences and only if the special request is made at least two weeks before a said conference.
The complete list of standing rules will be posted on the ASUO website, as stipulated in the ASUO constitution.
The current senate also appointed seven members to the ASUO summer senate. Summer senate meets once every other week and each senator receives a $75 stipend. Summer senate is only allowed to allocate $5,000 worth of surplus, it is also responsible for creating the rules for fall to be approved by the ASUO constitution court. Senators Dylan Haupt, Samantha Cohen, Joshua Seligsohn, Matt Maher, Rebecca Rhodes, Yelin Oh and Miles Sisk will mke up the ASUO summer senate.
The Elections Reform Working Group assembled and met twice during spring term. The working group will meet again in the fall and further discuss potential changes to the ASUO elections process.
Ideas that the working group will be discussing include: The possibility of having a runoff election, involving conflict resolution services in the campaigns, possibly an administrative representative to help consult with the Constitution Court and Elections Board, potential finance limits and more. These topics will be explored further by the working group, but there will be much more discussion before any concrete changes are made.
The last meeting of the current senate will take place Wednesday, June 4 and will resume again in the fall.