Though online campaigning started a week ago, the majority of ASUO action on the web seems to be taking place outside the realm of official campaign pages.

The Ducks Like You campaign officially launched its website on Saturday, March 15. As of now the Mighty Oregon campaign has yet to launch their website or release its slate.

Ducks Like You has been using Twitter and Facebook pages to advertise their campaign. The Ducks Like You webpage lists its platform, slate, supporters and more including a Go Fund Me page inviting people to donate to the campaign on their website.

Outside of the official website and Facebook pages there has been a bit of online drama.

ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz tweeted about the lack of gender diversity on the Ducks Like You slate. Dotters-Katz also tweeted specifically at Ducks Like You campaign manager and ASUO senator Helena Schlegel.

Schlegel responded to Dotters-Katz post on the Ducks Like You Facebook page.

“Hey Sam. I would respectfully ask that you personally get to know the slate and ask for their gender pronouns rather than assume everyone’s gender identities. Looking at a picture and seeing names and claiming ones gender is a disappointing action coming from the student body President.”

Candidates have used social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to get their message out — sometimes to their detriment. A grievance was filed against Ducks Like You senatorial candidate Juan Rivera after he used his Facebook page to solicit signatures for his candidate petition.

ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz criticizes the lack I gender diversity on the Ducks Like You slate via twitter

After online campaigning comes media campaigning, which begins week one. Expect direct voter contact starting April 7.

University of Oregon student Win Min withdrew from the spring election earlier this week. Min was running as one of Thomas Tullis’ vice presidential candidates.

“I’m busy so I decided not to,” Min said. “I’m not planning on running on any campaign.”

Tullis was unavailable for comment.

Craig Garcia contributed to this post. Follow Craig Garcia and Alexandra Wallachy on Twitter @CraiGarcia and @wall2wallachy.

While you were hibernating, the ASUO senate passed resolutions, budgets and argued a fair amount. For those not spending their Wednesday nights in the EMU Walnut Room here are the big items you missed at winter term senate. Plenty more happened this term, and more information can be found in the Emerald’s logs of weekly live coverage of ASUO senate.

Incidental Fee Budget   

If it is approved by University of Oregon President Gottfredson, the 2014-2015 budget will be $15.24 million, which is right on the 3.5 percent increase from this year’s budget. The 3.5 percent cap called for spending cuts and made it difficult for senate to give increases to student groups and programs.

The recommended incidental fee increased about eight dollars from $208 in 2013-2014 to $215.25 for 2014-2015.

Elections Board confirmations 

The ASUO elections board members:

MacGregor Ehlen: Elections Board Coordinator

Drew Spainhower: Voter Education Coordinator

Rujun Cao: Public Relations Coordinator

Alex Davis: Office Manager

Madison Berger: Outreach Coordinator

Cao and Berger were confirmed by the ASUO senate without much hesitation, though the same cannot be said for other members of the elections board. MacGregor Ehlen was confirmed Jan. 15, 2014 after his confirmation was tabled Nov. 13, 2014 due to concern over his friendship with ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz.

There was even more concern about the association between other members of the elections board. Ehlen, Spainhower and Davis are all members of the same fraternity, Phi Delta Theta. The senate confirmed the all elections board appointments but with some reservations and much discussion.

QuackPac resolution   

The QuackPac resolution to “the University of Oregon’s commitment to Israel’s right to exist and thrive” was passed by the ASUO senate Jan. 29, 2014. Some students thought that the language of the resolution was not bipartisan enough, yet the resolution was passed  13-5-1.  

Lierre Keith resolution 

The ASUO senate passed a resolution Feb. 12, 2014 regarding Lierre Keith, a speaker at the 2014 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. The resolution asked for an alternative option for students offended by Keith and her transphobic statements. Some didn’t support the resolution because of concerns over free speech. The resolution was submitted by the UO Survival Center and allies.

The United States Student Association has received 12 percent of the budget requested for the 2014-2015 year after submitting its budget late.

Athletics Contracts and Finance Committee budgets were due Nov. 22, 2013; USSA submitted its budget Jan. 30, 2014, originally asking for a $24,531 budget.

This is not the first time that USSA submitted its budget late. USSA officers say that the primary reason for that is that the USSA and the ASUO are on different fiscal years.

“We have to coordinate nationally with our budget and that takes time. Budgets usually start happening around winter for most schools so basically we weren’t sure of our budget until our January meeting, which was unfortunate because our budget was due earlier,” said Lamar Wise, the corporate secretary for USSA.

Although USSA’s budget was late,  ACFC chair Alyssa Goessler granted USSA a hearing which is within the rules of the ASUO constitution. At the hearing ACFC board member and Sen. Josh Losner made a motion to overturn the chair’s decision to grant USSA a budget hearing. Of the six members of ACFC, five were present. Ronnie Grenier-Hemphil, Evan Roth and Losner all voted to deny USSA a hearing while Goessler and Reid Stender voted against the motion to overturn the decision of the chair.

Two national members of USSA were at the budget hearing, including the vice president and West Coast field organizer.

“It was really unprofessional,” Goessler said. “I wish that we had known earlier so we could have convened earlier to make the decision not in front of their national directors.”

Goessler was unaware of any plans by members of the ACFC to deny USSA a budget hearing until moments before the hearing began. Losner made the motion to overturn the decision of the chair.

“Not funding them would set a precedent that you have to get your things in on time, you have to do things right,” Losner said. “At the end of the day it’s a standard that I have for myself and it’s a standard that as a member of the ACFC I have for those applying for funding.”

From here on out, the USSA plans to work to increase communication between USSA and the University of Oregon. It’s now written into the rules to makes sure that the national chapter checks in with the Oregon chapter.

Funding for USSA was widely discussed during the March 5 senate meeting. ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz recommended that the senate fund USSA while others were concerned about holding different groups to different standards and setting precedents. By the end of the meeting, USSA was funded $3,000 for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

“Now that we’re in the act of punishing groups for not coming in on time. What would you have done if athletics hadn’t come in on time? Are we just cutting groups just because?” Sen. Miles Sisk said at the March 5 senate meeting.

Athletics did submit its budget late, but it was never addressed at its budget hearing, the March 5 senate meeting or in general. The athletics budget was also due Nov. 22 but was emailed to the ASUO accounting coordinator Dec. 19.

For the almost 3,000 international students at the University of Oregon representation can be hard to centralize. That’s where Kevin Ma comes in. Ma has been the ASUO International Student Advocate since June 2013. A search is currently underway to find Ma’s replacement when he graduates at the end of this term.

Ma helps international student groups apply for funding, make special requests and navigates the ASUO landscape. A big part of his job is spreading information to different international student leaders and groups to reach those 2,946 international students. International students make up about twelve percent of the University of Oregon.

“I want to fill the gap between the domestic students and the international students,” Ma said. “I want to tell them that we do have a voice and power on campus.”

To represent all 2,946 international students, Ma relies on the help of interns. Many of who helped him to organize everything from this year’s  international fee town hall to international student group conferences and outreach to international student leaders.

“I so appreciate that the ASUO gave me the opportunity and I also appreciate that I get support from the international student leaders,” Ma said. “I do have the personal responsibility to help the international students to get them out of trouble or help solve their problems.”

For Ma, interns are an important form of assistance but he also wants the experience to help them expand their campus opportunities. One of his goals is to help get them involved in more ASUO activity.

“I really want my interns to be involved in ASUO in the future,” Ma said. “ASUO does not have that many seats for international students.”

One of Ma’s former interns, Rujun Cao, is now ASUO Elections Board Public Relations Coordinator.

Another of Ma’s goals during his ASUO tenure is to connect international student groups with companies and corporations. The focus on connecting international students with American companies is to help them get jobs after college. Ma is graduating this term and is currently looking for a job in America.

“I hope I can find a job but it’s very hard for international students to find jobs because many companies do not give sponsors,” Ma said. “We have to get sponsors for our visas to stay here.”

The International Student Advocate hiring committee has been designated with the responsibility of replacing Ma. The committee included ASUO Internal Vice President Azia Calderhead, ASUO Internal Affairs Director Kelsey Peddie and Ma.

Calderhead would like someone who can expand upon Ma’s advocacy for both the ASUO’s needs and student groups’ needs. Though she’ll miss the former leader, she is optimistic about the future.

“I’m going to miss him so much, he’s incredible and he knows everyone,” Calderhead said. “It’s going to be really hard without him but I think he’ll make a great transition for the next advocate. I think the new advocate will be well prepared.”

The ASUO Constitution Court found a ballot proposed by Lamar Wise to increase graduate student representation on the ASUO senate in violation of the ASUO Constitution on Feb. 27.

Specifically, Con Court took issue with the wording of the ballot measure as well as its potential violation of the ASUO constitution.

The proposed measure would “allow there to be four unique graduate seats on the senate, to be reapportioned by the ASUO constitutional court based upon the number of graduate students and their respective majors.” Two years ago there were graduate student seats that have since been removed due to reapportionment.

According to Con Court’s Feb. 27 decision the proposed ballot measure violated the current rules regarding apportionment. Article sixteen of the ASUO Constitution Court Rules and Procedures, and Article 13 § 10 of the ASUO Constitution, state that the court is required to reapportion senate seats once every two years. In addition, members of the ASUO are allowed to petition the court to reapportion the senate at any time.

“Ballot measures that attempt to directly over-rule the ASUO Constitution without amending the ASUO Constitution violate Article 15 § 5.5 of the ASUO Constitution, which requires that ballot measures must be ‘consistent with the ASUO Constitution,’” Con Court said in its review of the proposed ballot measure.

The language of the ballot measure was the main source of issue. The proposed ballot measure would “allow there to be four unique graduate seats on the senate” which the court already has the power to do, making the language redundant.

Con Court’s ruling may have rejected Wise’s proposed ballot measure for language, but the issue is far from dead.

At last week’s senate meeting senator Amy Jones proposed a similar ballot measure that was passed by the senate.

“It will get to the same intent,” Wise said. “In my conversations with graduate students they felt underrepresented. That’s what this is addressing.”

To read the full Con Court decision: 7 C.C. (1)

Before they have even assumed their roles for spring-term elections, the ASUO Elections Board members are already under fire for a potential conflict of interest regarding fraternity association between committee members.

Three out of the four members of the elections board are members of Phi Delta Theta after elections board coordinator MacGregor Ehlen hired two members of his fraternity to the board.

Ehlen said it was not his intention to appoint his fraternity brothers to the elections board.

“I didn’t get Alex Davis to apply … I actually was surprised when I saw his application,” Ehlen said. “We don’t have a horse in this race. I’m not too concerned about our ability to be unbiased.”

Ehlen points out that every sanction the board makes is subject to appeal, so if its decisions are considered biased, the ASUO has a chance to change them.

Last November, the ASUO Senate tabled Sam Dotters-Katz’s confirmation of Ehlen to the position, which caused a bit of controversy and delayed Ehlen’s confirmation until mid-January.

Senate has since approved all three of Ehlen’s hires – Drew Spainhower, Rujun Cao and Davis – but not without controversy.

None of the senators took issue with Davis’ qualifications when approving his appointment as ASUO Elections Board office manager. Rather, some senators voiced concern with the potential for bias when electing another member of Ehlen’s fraternity.

The vote to confirm Davis on Feb. 19 was noticeably split by gender. Of the eight female members of the senate, six were present for the vote. Of those six female senators in attendance, five of the six voted against confirming Davis. Katie Rosenberg was the only female senator who voted to confirm Davis. Of the male senators present, Cody Koenig was the only one who voted not to confirm Davis.

“I think the board needs to be more diverse,” Koenig said at the meeting.

Many other senators raised similar issues about the lack of diversity on the elections board.

“Diversity is not a group of people who look differently and think alike,” Davis said. “You can have diversity of thought on the board with me, Mac and Drew.”

In response to claims made at the senate meeting, Ehlen sent an email to senators Taylor Allison and Helena Schlegel that disputes the claims. In the email he points to Cao, the elections board public relations coordinator and an international student, and Drew Spainhower, the elections board voter education coordinator and a Native American student, as examples of diversity within the elections board.

“My job is not to meet some arbitrary quota that the senate wants for this board,” Ehlen said in the email. “My job, and the job of my fellow board members, is to create the rules, administer the elections and respond to grievances in a timely manner.”

Regardless of the controversy, Schlegel says she’s looking forward to the upcoming spring term campaigns.

“MacGregor and I had disagreements about the process,” Schlegel said. “I’m looking forward to a fair election with the current elections board.”

An International Student Fee Town Hall on Thursday night allowed students to express questions and concerns about a new $125 per-term fee for international students. The fee will incrementally increase over the next four years to reach a cost of $200 per-student, per-term in the 2016-2017 school year.

Though the new fee is not imposed by the student government, the ASUO facilitated the town hall between international students and the UO department of  International Affairs. ASUO International Student Advocate Kevin Ma and Vice President Azia Calderhead started working on the event intended to address confusion and misconceptions about the fee at the beginning of winter term.

At the event, Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Holmes and Vice Provost of International affairs Dennis Galvan explained that the intent of the fee is to address the increased cost of service for international students that accompanies their increased enrollment numbers at the UO.

According to Abe Schafermeyer, the director of International Student and Scholar Services (ISS), there were roughly 980 international students at the UO in 2002. This year, there are 2,925. That’s an almost two hundred percent increase over the past twelve years.

At the town hall, Schafermeyer addressed the services provided by the fee, which include the international student orientation (ISO), expanded advising staff, improved immigration compliance and improved communications. In addition Schafermeyer pointed to upcoming communications efforts in the works, which include improving the ISS and office of international affairs (OIA) websites and pre-arrival online orientation modules to give students access to better information before arriving at UO. Both new developments are set to be implemented in the fall of 2014.

The main issue that students addressed is that the program is that they’re paying for a future investment that they may not even get to experience before graduation.

“We are paying right now and we are not actually benefiting.” Tony Zhang, international student association coordinator, said.

“You’re getting value but you’re not seeing it in the form of flashy new programs. That’s coming, but it’s incubating.” Galvan said in response to that concern.

Another issue is whether or not international students will utilize the very programs they’re paying for.

“A lot of the students don’t take advantage of services we provide. But as an educator I’m not going to stop providing beneficial programs.” Schafermeyer said.

According to Schafermeyer,  upcoming course of action will be finalizing the actual programs by building their infrastructure, which include structures like an advisory board, a yearly survey and improved communication with international student leaders on campus.

“The students had awesome questions,” Schafermeyer said. “They want to know where the money that they’re being charged is going. I think that’s exactly the right approach.”

The ASUO Constitution Court approved the official ASUO elections rules for spring of 2014. The official rules, schedules, disclosures and registration petitions are now available on the ASUO website.

Campaign registration will take place during winter term as well as online campaigning; however, the majority of campaigning will take place spring term.

A mandatory elections meeting will happen on March 10 and all ballot measures must be submitted by March 11. All candidates must be registered by March 14.

Online campaigning starts March 19 while media campaigns do not begin until March 31. According to the ASUO Election Rules, “Online campaigning includes but is not limited to the posting of a campaign website, Facebook page or twitter account.”

Media campaigning also “includes but is not limited to in-person media, such as the posting of campaign materials, advertising, mail and all such public media use by campaigns. Media campaigning may begin at the start of week one during spring term.”

The current ASUO Election Rules do not address campaigns use of laptops to help students vote. MacGregor Ehlen, Elections Board Coordinator, stated to the Emerald that the Elections Board is still working out the details of rule banning the use of campaign laptops helping students with the administration.

After several delays, the ASUO Senate has confirmed three-fifths of its elections board.

MacGregor Ehlen was confirmed in January after an attempt in November. Senators took issue with Ehlen’s friendship with ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz, which Ehlen rejects, stating that lots of people have friends in the ASUO.

“When somebody says you can’t have friends in this position it’s like the pot calling the kettle black,” Ehlen said.

Ehlen’s appointment delay subsequently delayed the hiring process for other positions on the ASUO elections board: The positions of officer manager and outreach coordinator have yet to be filled.

Senate members raised similar issues during Drew Spainhower’s confirmation. He’s the ASUO elections board education coordinator. Because Ehlen and Spainhower are fraternity brothers, some senators addressed concerns about friends hiring friends. Spainhower was ultimately confirmed by the ASUO Feb. 5.

Once the hurdle of confirmation was over, the team was free to write the rules for the upcoming ASUO presidential election, some of which will post considerable changes from previous campaigns. Once the suggested changes are drafted, Constitution Court approval is required before they may be implemented.

The elections board is proposing significant change from last year’s election rules in response to previous issues and grievances. Previously, campaigns have been allowed to help students vote at their tables. This will no longer be the case. Instead a neutral ballot site will be set up to make sure that the integrity of the election remains intact. Spainhower emphasizes the importance of student awareness and education.

“Their votes do make a difference and I’d like everyone to be educated on what’s going happening on campus,” he said.

“One of the biggest issues in the last few elections has been T-shirts,” Ehlen said, addressing grievances filed against campaigns, including the United Oregon campaign last year, where campaigners were giving out T-shirts in exchange for votes.

While the election rules do allow for advertising, it does not allow those to be given implicitly or explicitly in exchange for votes. This is nothing new, but with a history of T-shirt grievances, Ehlen hopes campaigns are sure to be careful to avoid bribery-related grievances.

A main goal of the elections board is to increase voter turnout, especially among the international student community, according to Rujun Cao, the newly appointed elections board public relations coordinator. Before becoming an ASUO intern in the fall, Cao, like many students on campus, knew what it was like to feel disconnected with ASUO elections.

“I want to connect the ASUO to all the students on the campus and help international students to get more involved in the spring election,” Cao said.

The focus on international student participation in the upcoming election is another step to increase voter turnout. According to Ehlen, students can expect the elections board to be more vocal than it has been in past years.  

“We’re hoping there are no setbacks, but it is an ASUO election,” Ehlen said.

Follow Alexandra Wallachy on Twitter @wall2wallachy