Tempers flared during the Downtown student government Senate meeting Friday when members from several ASU M.E.Ch.A. organizations tried to speak while the Senate was discussing M.E.Ch.A. de ASU Centro’s funding request.
Multiple members of Movimiento Estudantil Chican@ de Aztlan – who were holding cardboard signs and posters with STD statistics – tried speaking unsuccessfully with senators and the Executive Board while they were attempting to debate how much more to amend their funding request.
M.E.Ch.A. members were concerned about their request being slashed more and the resulting lack of funds affecting their ability to promote safe sex on campus by distributing condoms in Taylor Mall.
Some senators did not feel M.E.Ch.A. had a concrete plan on how they would use the money and wanted to see a trial run first.
However, M.E.Ch.A. members pointed out some of them have been running similar safe sex programs for about five years.
Other senators felt partnering with one or two organizations on campus who distribute condoms would reach more students and cost less.
“(Cutting safe sex funding) shows they do not have the best interests of Downtown students at heart,” M.E.Ch.A ASU Co-chair Jose Rios Lua said.
The M.E.Ch.A members effectively stopped the Senate meeting by drowning out senators as they tried to talk with each other and explain the meeting rules to the audience.
Vice President David Bakardjiev threatened to have the disruptors removed because the public is not allowed to speak at the meetings.
M.E.Ch.A members grew louder after he said this.
The Downtown student government adviser Cassandra Aska – who rarely speaks at Senate meetings – stood up in the middle of the arguments and supported Bakardjiev, saying the Senate needs to follow their process.
The M.E.Ch.A members disagreed about their rights to speak, saying that as paying students of ASU they were allowed to speak at the meeting.
According to Arizona Open Meeting Law, members of the public have no right to speak or disrupt during meetings. However, Senate members can yield the floor to an audience member. This has happened several times this year, including once at Friday’s meeting.
Also, calls to the public are permitted but must be added as an agenda item beforehand.
After the meeting, Rios Lua, former Director of Parliamentary Procedures for ASASUD, said it was disappointing the government was not allowing students to speak in depth on behalf of their funding request as they did last year.
M.E.Ch.A.’s request was postponed from the Sept. 23 Senate meeting because senators wanted more details about how the money would be spent.
The funding request proposed at that meeting was for $19,730.
On Friday, the request had been cut to $8,567.11.
By the time it passed, M.E.Ch.A. de ASU Centro only received $7,300.
“Even though we did have a situation with M.E.Ch.A., we learned a lot from it and we’re just going to improve from there,” Freshman Sen. Stephanie Avalos said. “We have the best interests of all the students, and we want to make downtown an awesome campus which thrives.”
In response to disruptions during the last two Senate meetings, students will be allowed at future meetings to speak on behalf of their funding request or on any agenda item.
For funding requests, a maximum of three individuals will be allowed to speak for no more than two minutes per person.
If a member of the public wants to talk about an agenda item, they can sign up on a speaker list before the Senate meeting.
Also, a “call to audience” section will be added to the end of the agenda for every meeting.
“This kind of reform is needed to ensure that our students feel their opinion and perspectives are heard,” Bakardjiev said in a statement. “Even with these changes, downtown student organizations must understand that the lobbying for funding requests is most appropriate within the Budget Allocations Committee.”
Five new committees were also created during the meeting: Greek Life, Causes, Fine Arts, Rights and Universal.
The committee that senators during the meeting said could have the greatest impact on student lives is the Universal Committee, chaired by Avalos and Barrett, the Honors College Senator Jessica Boehm.
This committee was created to revise and discuss the universal constitution that was drafted by the president’s council over the summer. The constitution has yet to be approved for Downtown.
A goal for the Universal Committee is to have similar committees on all four ASU campuses that can all have input on the universal constitution moving forward.
The Senate also retracted the $15,000 they allocated to themselves at the Sept. 23 Senate meeting so they could follow funding procedures more accurately.
Specifically, when the senators allocated that money, line-item reports of where the money would be spent were not created.
These reports, along with other documentation, are necessary for every other student organization on campus to request funds.
The Senate will revisit their request at the next meeting, this time with the proper paperwork.
The Senate also allocated funds to the Fashion Journalism Club ($220), the Social Work Student Organization ($1,069.33) and the Associated Press Television and Radio Association ($4,173.08).
The Downtown student government now has $59,327.65 of student fee money available for student organizations for the rest of the school year.
Contact the reporter at jessica.zook@asu.edu
