Disorganization in ASG

October 22nd, 2007 by Jackie Craddock

As the mostly new members of Associated Student’s Government tackle their governmental duties they seem to be doing the wrong thing for the right reason.

In several recent actions, the senate ignored its own rules to rectify procedural mistakes made by members on issues ranging from club charters to confirmation of new senators.

For a keeper of the rulebook, Vice President of Legislative Affairs Luke Groninger, the confusion is making an already busy job almost impossible.

“I’m trying to make this as transparent as possible,” he said. “Due to a large amount of freshman senators we have had to reconsider certain decisions made in an effort to better serve the campus.”

An example of that occurred at the Sept. 11 meeting when CSU-Pueblo Students for Life, represented by club president Anthony Goodsell, sought to be chartered. The club is an off-shoot of a national pro-life organization.

Discussion on the senate floor became heated as the senators struggled to ask appropriate questions.

Normally, the focus of chartering questions involves what the club plans to do for promotion (each club receives a $350 bonus upon charter specifically for promotional uses) as well as how the campus would benefit from its presence.

Senate Pro-Tem Leighann Hardwick started some controversy when she offered her personal encouragement and congratulations to the club president.

“First, I just want to say that I think it’s awesome that you are a male starting a pro-life club, good for you,” Hardwick said. “I want you to know and your club to be aware that there are people that are going to get after you and I think that this is an awesome group and that we need something like this on campus.”

The questions that followed ranged from what the club would do for a woman who decided not to terminate her pregnancy, to how they would counsel someone who has had an abortion. As the tension increased, two senators declined to speak when it was their turn to hold the floor, and Hardwick moved to charter the club.

The vote that followed was problematic. According to the minutes of that meeting, 14 senators were present and voting. Of those 14, five voted no. Based on those numbers, the club did not receive the two-thirds majority vote to be chartered.

Vice President for Finance and Administration Amanda Cristelli helped the administrative assistant with the counting of the votes. She stated that the club had two-thirds vote and congratulated them on being chartered, which also was recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

“The vote was biased and needs to be based on COF guidelines,” Groninger said.

The process that a club must go through to be chartered is spelled out in the Club and Organization Funding Policies and Procedures Handbook (COF handbook). A club constitution and completion of a charter packet must be turned in to COF Senator, Stephen Titus.

Goodsell complied with the requirements and answered all of the questions raised by the senators in the meeting. However, the vote actually reflected that the club was not chartered. Groninger said he was concerned about the neutrality of the senator’s votes.

According to Groninger, when the senators vote, the first thing that they need to consider is whether the COF handbook guidelines have been met.

A meeting was held with the senate to discuss the responsibility of voting and Senator Titus circulated a memo which illustrated a case where a university could have been sued for not chartering a pro-life club.

ASG could have brought Goodsell before the senate again and a re-vote could have taken place. If the club was still denied charter, Article 9 of the COF handbook illustrates the process a club can go through to appeal the decision of the senate, Groninger said.

Instead, the mistake in the counting of the votes was not rectified and no mention of the club was made in subsequent meetings.

“They (CSU-Pueblo Students for Life) met the COF requirements and now they are a club,” Groninger said.

At the Sept. 25 meeting a candidate for the vacant College of Education, Engineering and Professional Studies (CEEPS) senator position stood before the senate for her final interview before the vote for confirmation.

Larisa Swope applied for the position and was recommended by the senate select committee.

The senate select committee is comprised of three to five senators with Vice President of Legislative Affairs Groninger acting as a neutral party to keep the interview focused. The committee has three options after the interview: to recommend the applicant for the position, to recommend with stipulation and to not recommend.

Swope was recommended for the position and was set to be interviewed by the entire senate. Because of this, Groninger stopped accepting applications.

Traditionally, the position was filled by a first come first serve rule, Groninger said.

Swope told the senate about her past accomplishments, including her work as a student ambassador. Before the floor was open for questions, Chief Justice Nathan Pesch raised the point that another student had applied for the position and that his application was not considered, despite the fact that the senate seat was still open.

After much confusion about what should happen next, the senate voted to table the confirmation of Swope until the other applicant had gone through the senate select committee.

Both candidates appeared before the senate in the Oct. 9 meeting and the senators voted by confidential ballot.

The result was announced in the new business portion of the meeting, Swope won and was confirmed after the announcement.
No where in the ASG constitution does it outline the procedure for filling open senate positions after elections have been held.

The senate select process is outlined in Article XI Section 400; however, no timeline is given for collecting applications and conducting interviews.

Although Swope was confirmed on Oct. 9 the ASG Web site, as of Oct. 19, continues to reflect that her position is vacant.

Posted in News