ASUO President Beatriz Gutierrez said she will not be filling the external vice president position vacated by Patrick Kindred after his removal from the University of Oregon campus in February.

Kindred has been absent from his position since Feb. 9, when he was banned from university property for online threats and arrested for criminal trespass and criminal mischief at 7-Eleven on 13th and Alder. Prior to his removal from campus, Kindred had been involved in projects that included rallies regarding police brutality and was responsible for vice presidential duties with Student Planning and Construction Committee.

In Kindred’s absence, interior vice president Tran Dinh remains. Gutierrez ran on the Ducks Like You slate with both Dinh and Kindred in last year’s election. The choice whether to have one or two vice presidents is up to the presidential candidate’s discretion, either is acceptable per the Green Tape Notebook (GTN), which is the document that outlines the rules of operation for the ASUO.

Section five of the GTN deals with the duties of the President and Vice President. The language allows for an administration that has either one or two vice presidents. Section 5.3 states only that “if the President decides to have two Vice-Presidents, the President must designate which appointee shall fulfill which Constitutional duties of the position of Vice-President, and which shall be first in the line of succession.”

Chief Justice of the Constitution Court Allison Apana said that by her interpretation, the allowances for two vice presidents takes precedence over section 14 of the GTN, which deals with replacement, recall and impeachment. For example, section 14.3 states that non fulfillment of duties for three weeks may be considered a vacancy of any office elected or appointed under the ASUO Constitution.

Gutierrez said that Kindred’s stipend has been suspended. He is now living in Portland and will return to Lane County for his next court date, set for April 6.

The post The ASUO won’t seek replacement for Patrick Kindred as external VP appeared first on Emerald Media.

Dave Frohnmayer, former UO president and dean of the law school, has passed away at 74. Frohnmayer was also the Oregon attorney general from 1981-1991 and impacted the UO campus, the state of Oregon and the nation in profound ways.

I am heartbroken at the loss of my brilliant friend Dave Frohnmayer. My thoughts go out to Lynn and his family http://t.co/lqS75NxbVU

— Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) March 10, 2015

Sad day for #Oregon. Our thoughts go to his family. Former UO Pres. David #Frohnmayer has died http://t.co/HDiDG2CIyY via @salem_statesman — Astley Group (@AstleyConsult) March 10, 2015

Dave Frohnmayer was an invaluable part of my scholarship program. He’ll be missed by the Ford Family. Rest in peace, sir. — Thomas Kyle-Milward (@ThomasKMilward) March 10, 2015

Our thoughts and prayers are with family and friends of former University of Oregon president Dave Frohnmayer — Autzen Students (@AutzenStudents) March 10, 2015

RIP Dave Frohnmayer….a transformational UO president and outstanding Oregon public servant. — David Piper (@atqdave) March 10, 2015

Devastating news about one of my favorite UO Professors, Dave Frohnmayer. He was an inspiration to so many http://t.co/xFeBN386Bd

— Steve Smith (@mr_stevejsmith) March 10, 2015

Today, all of Oregon is mourning the loss of Dave Frohnmayer. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family…. http://t.co/mbdjFcnueb

— OR House Democrats (@ORHouseDems) March 10, 2015

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The progressive campaign UO Forward launched its website and Facebook page today, with Helena Schlegel as its candidate for president, and Claire Johnson and Francisco Morales-O’Connor both as vice presidential candidates.

According to the campaign’s website, UO Forward’s platform is “striving towards safety, an inclusive campus culture, and expanding campus connectivity.”

Schlegel is the student member on the board of trustees, a position that she has held since finals week of fall term. She is a junior economics and Spanish double major and has various experience in campus involvement.

Johnson is a public relations major and a member of Chi Omega sorority. Morales-O’Connor holds ASUO Senate Seat 12 and is majoring in Spanish.

The full list of candidates can be found here.

The ASUO elections board held an informational meeting March 2 and will hold a mandatory candidate meeting later in the week.

Follow Kaylee Tornay on Twitter @ka_tornay

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Live coverage of the March 6 ASUO Senate meeting.

Agenda

The post ASUO Senate live updates appeared first on Emerald Media.

The University of Oregon is hosting a public forum Monday afternoon to address solutions to avoid sexual violence and benefit support for survivors.

Interim President Scott Coltrane will be present.

Coltrane will address an update on the university’s current efforts to diminish sexual assault, support for survivors and encourage reporting.

Coltrane has received three sets of recommendations on this issue, from the President’s Review Panel, the Senate Taskforce and another from Student Life.

The event will take place at 4 p.m. at the Ford Alumni Center Giustina Ballroom.

Tweets by @ka_tornay

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Students and faculty protested on Feb. 27 to the University of Oregon’s administration’s response to the lawsuit filed by the survivor of an alleged sexual assault in March of last year.

Protestors marched in silence to the Johnson Hall lobby and then chanted until several leaders of the rally were allowed into the offices to speak with Scott Coltrane, interim president of the University of Oregon, about their concerns.

Sophie Albanis, one of the students who spoke with Coltrane, said later that their conversation was productive but not entirely comprehensive due to a lack of time.

The students offered several recommendations for survivor support, including the recently passed ASUO resolution regarding the expansion of Fraternity and Sorority Life, as well as legal support services for survivors. In addition, they communicated their disappointment in the language used in the university’s countersuit, and the way the university has handled sexual assault as a campus safety issue.

Coltrane encouraged them to attend an upcoming campus conversation and progress report on addressing sexual violence, which will be held in the Ford Alumni Center Giustina Ballroom on Monday Mar. 2 from 4-5:30 p.m.

The event began on the lawn beside Hendricks Hall. Several organizers, many of whom were from the Women’s Center, gave short speeches about why they were gathered.

Among these was Zach Lusby, a survivor of sexual assault and vocal advocate for survivors on campus. He spoke about the need to change the way the university handles sexual assault both in terms of mindset and policy.

“We have the opportunity to change this culture, where people like me won’t be afraid to speak up,” Lusby said during his opening remarks.

The next part of the rally was a silent march from the lawn to the quad and back down 13th St. to the steps of Johnson Hall. Protestors carried signs and some had put tape over their mouths as a symbolic reference to the survivors who are silenced by various circumstances.

Paul Shang from the Office of the Dean of Students met the demonstrators at the steps and they stood in continued silence for several minutes as all the demonstrators got into place. Finally, the leaders broke the silence by leading the group in chants.

Faculty, including economics professor Bill Harbaugh and media studies professor Carol Stabile, turned out in support of the rally, which eventually proceeded all the way into the lobby of Johnson Hall. There, the protestors continued to chant for around ten minutes until Coltrane and several others opened the office doors to Albanis, Lusby and two other organizers from the Women’s Center.

While waiting on those in conference, the demonstrators settled into a sit-in in the lobby, taking to social media to invite others to join.

When the four came out of the offices, they debriefed the remaining demonstrators on their conversation with Coltrane, as well as encouraging them to attend the Mar. 2 forum. The rally ended just before 3 p.m.

The post Scott Coltrane meets with organizers of sexual assault survivor support rally appeared first on Emerald Media.

A silent rally will be held on the lawn next to Hendricks Hall Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.

The rally was created to oppose the University of Oregon’s administrations “continual efforts to suppress the voices of survivors of sexual assault.”

The rally will end on the steps of Johnson Hall.

“Our silence will represent the thousands of sexual assault survivors who will be discouraged or prevented from sharing their stories and receiving justice.”

Tweets by @ka_tornay

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Live coverage of Wednesday night’s ASUO Senate

Agenda

A car chase originating in Springfield resulted in a crash on the corner of Broadway and Hilyard St. at approximately 3:20 p.m. on Wednesday.

Springfield Police were searching for three suspects involved in car break-ins, robberies and burglaries, Sergeant David Lewis of the Springfield Police Department said.

The crash occurred when the suspects attempted to cross the intersection between Broadway and Hilyard St. and crashed into the side porch of Elk Horn Brewery.

Suspects then exited the vehicle and continued on foot west on Broadway, but were apprehended by authorities shortly after.
No one was injured. The suspects are in custody in Springfield, Lewis said.

ASUO Senate passed the 2015-2016 budget on Satuday with a total increase of 3.9%, which will increase the Incidental Fee by $8.50, making it $223.75 per term. All four finance committees were examined, but Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee budgets caused the longest debates.

Athletics: The ACFC, in charge of the agreement with the University of Oregon Athletics Department that determines how many tickets are allotted to students and at what price, came to the Senate meeting with a $0 recommendation after it failed to pass any agreement in its budget hearings. On Thursday, Athletics relayed to ACFC that a zero percent increase would result in a cut of 300 student tickets per Pac-12 game and a subsequent increase of 300 Pac-12 student season ticket plans available for student purchase (at a price of $300 per package). ACFC members briefed all the senators on the disagreements of the second and third budget hearings that led to the failures of all their motions.

Senate voted down the $0 proposal to reopen discussion on Athletics. Senators found themselves in the position ACFC has been in: weighing whether the risk of cuts to student tickets was worth running in order to drive a lower price for all students. The first motion to pass the ACFC budget with zero percent Athletics increase failed. The ACFC met in a previously scheduled emergency meeting and made a plan to renegotiate the agreement with Athletics to try to avoid cutting football tickets. Their options include decreasing certain allocations of basketball tickets.

Senate passed the zero percent increase. ACFC will now continue negotiations with Athletics.

LTD: The ACFC contract with Lane Transit District provides students with bus passes. Senate decided that it would decrease the requested amount going towards LTD to a 5 percent increase and make up for it with an increase in a tax credit that they used last year. This led to an increase to the Programs Finance Committee increasing funding to SafeRide and Designated Driver Shuttle to extend hours.

OSPIRG: The student public interest group requested $110,000. OSPIRG was defunded by ASUO three years ago and caused controversy at the meeting for its employment of professional lobbyists. The debate centered partly on how OSPIRG does or does not operate differently from other student activist groups like Oregon Student Association and United States Student Association. Former senator and EMU Board member Taylor Allison expressed her discomfort with the funding.

“OSA is about using professional staff to train students to lobby themselves, but OSPIRG is about using professionals to lobby for students,” Allison said. “I have no issue with doing what you do, I just have a problem with using student money to do it.”

Others disagreed, however. Senate deliberated, but eventually passed the OSPIRG allocation with the rest of the ACFC budget.

ACFC came in at a $4,718,462 budget. The EMU Board was $6,357,648. The Departments Finance Committee budget was $1,110,021  PFC’s budget ended up being $2,488,711 after minor changes.

The budget now gets ASUO Executive approval, and after that the University President gives approval. If either executive rejects any part, Senate can override a veto with a two-thirds majority.