Revision of the Senate bylaws
Members of the ASASUD Senate revised an article in the Senate bylaws regarding salaries and compensation on Friday.
Dustin Volz, senator for Barrett, the Honors College, proposed a change that would require a senator to be impeached for him or her to lose their stipend.
Freshman Class Senator Daiyaan Colbert said he supports this revision because it is a great way to hold each senator accountable.
“Senators should not have the ability to not get paid and still hold their title,” Colbert said. “If you’re not fulfilling your responsibility as a senator, then you shouldn’t be a senator. If you’re not doing a good job, then you should be impeached, essentially.”
Under the current bylaws, a senator could lose their pay without being impeached.
ASASUD Vice President Jessica Abercrombie said that, as chair of the senate, she currently decides who gets paid and who does not based on whether senators have fulfilled their certain roles and duties.
“I try to keep in constant contact with the senators to see what they have or have not completed,” Abercrombie said. “Senators have duties clearly stated in the bylaws, and I try to remind them of what they need to have fulfilled.”
Cailyn Bradley, senator for the Walter Cronkite School, said the senate bylaws were unclear and poorly written.
“If you don’t fulfill your duties, you shouldn’t get paid,” Bradley said. “But in my opinion, senators shouldn’t take the position because of the stipend.”
Senators Pedro Silva, Stephanie Ortiz and Andrew Schmiedeler will not be receiving their stipends this semester but will still be able to hold their positions as senators because the revised bylaws will not take effect until the spring semester.
Silva, senator for Barrett, the Honors College, said he went into the position not knowing that he was going to get paid and thinks he executed his senatorial duties to the best of his abilities.
“This is something that I am going to fight — I’ve done my work,” Silva said. “Am I upset that I’m not going to get paid? Yes, to some extent. But I did not do this knowingly that there was money involved. I just want to do my part for this campus.”
Schmiedeler and Ortiz chose not to comment on this issue.
Senate and Executive board positions open
Michelle Lauer, senator for the Walter Cronkite School, announced she will be stepping down from her position to pursue other ventures in the spring semester while Cameron Polom, director of finance, also announced his resignation from ASASUD on Friday and Sen. Ortiz said she was in the process of withdrawing from ASU on Sunday.
Lauer formally recommended journalism freshman Hannah Rakestraw as her replacement at the meeting on Friday.
“Hannah first tried to get involved with ASASUD twice by applying for the freshman senator position and the director of parliamentary position but neither time was able to actually win the seat,” Lauer said. “By applying for the third time, it just shows that she is going to be dedicated … she is not afraid and is enthusiastic on joining ASASUD.”
Lauer added that Rakestraw has already gotten involved with the Cronkite School by talking to the deans about adding a third-level photojournalism class as well as trying to move parts of The Blaze 1330 AM to the Downtown campus.
Rakestraw said she was honored that Lauer had recommended her as a possible candidate to fill her spot on the Senate.
“I really want to get Cronkite students more involved with student government,” Rakestraw said. “They need to be notified with what is going on with their campus. Whether I get the position or not, I’m going to talk with the Cronkite students and take their concerns and ideas to the senators.”
Sen. Colbert said due to Lauer’s recommendation, Rakestraw sounds like a good candidate.
“It’s nice to hear that Hannah is already playing the role as a Cronkite senator by working on ideas that could benefit Cronkite students,” Colbert said. “But I do know of some other great senators who might apply, so it will be a tough competition for all students.”
ASASUD President Christian Vasquez, who is in charge of appointing the senate position, said he is going to open the application process to any student in the Cronkite School who would like to apply to give a fair advantage to all of the school’s students.
Also, Sen. Ortiz, of the College of Public Programs, said she has a pending withdrawal request from ASU.
“I chose to withdraw for personal reasons that have nothing to do with ASU, Downtown, or its student government,” Ortiz said in a text message.
Ortiz said there are members of the Executive board whom she has told about her withdrawal.
“Prior to the personal family issues I faced this semester, I was fully invested in … my senate position and the Downtown campus as a whole,” Ortiz said. “Because I’ve had to accommodate for my family needs, my work with the senate did slowly dwindle before I made the decision to withdraw. It’s unfortunate, but it’s the truth.”
Beth Wischnia, the director of public relations for ASASUD, said the Executive board has not heard anything about Stephanie’s withdrawal from ASU.
“We haven’t heard from Stephanie at this point, so to us, she is still an ASASUD member,” Wischnia said.
Jose Rios, the director of parliamentary procedures, said Ortiz’s withdrawal had not been brought to his attention.
“In any situation, if any senator withdraws from ASU and is no longer a student, he or she is no longer a senator because he or she is no longer an eligible member of ASASUD,” Rios said.
Since there was no formal notification of Stephanie’s pending withdrawal from ASU, Rios said he would have to verify with academic records to make sure Ortiz has academically withdrawn from all her classes.
Ten percent of student fee money to be set aside
ASASUD is planning on setting aside 10 percent of student fee money for student initiatives.
Sen. Colbert said he and Vasquez have been talking about this topic for the past week and concluded that by setting aside the 10 percent, ASASUD will be able to reach out and provide more services to downtown students.
“When we do use a part of the 10 percent, we will make sure to inform our constituents where their money is going,” Colbert said. “This money will help us put on great events, will help us engage students more and hopefully get them more involved with the campus.”
Sen. Bradley, of the Cronkite School, said she thinks setting aside 10 percent of the student fee money is a good idea because a lot of students either aren’t given the opportunity to use the student fee money or aren’t taking advantage of it.
“There are so many students who aren’t able to use the student fee money because they aren’t involved with various student organizations and clubs on campus,” Bradley said.
Setting aside money will allow ASASUD to hold more campus-wide events available to all students, Colbert said.
“I can see how this action could be kind of iffy,” Bradley said. “I don’t want students to think we are taking money away from them.”
If there is money leftover from the 10 percent by March 15, 2011, then the money will be mixed back in with the general student fee money.
NABJ Funding Request
ASASUD also approved the National Association of Black Journalists’ funding request of $600 for national membership fees.
Contact the reporter at jessica.s.choi@asu.edu
