The ASASUD Senate vote to support a facilities fee ended in a deadlock on Friday with no constitutional guidelines to split the decision.
In a 5-5 tie, with one abstention and Sen. Amy Villarreal, freshmen representative, absent, the Senate was forced to postpone the vote until their next scheduled meeting on Oct. 30.
“When this fee was brought to the table I knew it would be messy,” Vice President Beth Wischnia said. “Today’s meeting was a really perfect example that we’re all learning together and we’re all making mistakes together.”
The fee proposal, which would support the construction of new and expanded facilities to be designated as student space, has generated a passionate debate between members of the Senate.
The senators in favor of the fee included Jessica Abercrombie and Charlie Jannetto of the Walter Cronkite School, Joel Bumanglag, Andres Cano and Abigail Wischnia, College of Public Programs.
Sophomore Sen. Joel Bumanglag, College of Nursing and Health Innovation, said he is still going to approve the fee.
“A facilities fee is necessary to become one university in many places,” he said.
If the campuses do not offer similar amenities, the university fails to achieve that vision, Bumanglag said.
“We don’t need all the eateries that Memorial Union has, but it would be nice to have something similar,” he said, adding later: “We are student leaders and we have to think about the future⎯we can’t be thinking about ourselves.”
The senators who opposed the facilities fee included Dustin Volz and Justin Hoffman of Barrett, the Honors College, Shannon Langford of University College, Lindsay Fletcher of the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, and Junior Sen. Joe Pettinato, College of Public Programs.
Pettinato said the five senators who supported the measure voted for a fee with no plan behind it.
“I could never impose a fee on my constituents and not tell them what it was going to,” he said. “I would not be okay with that. I think it is negligent of a senate body to do so.”
“This isn’t a bad idea in general,” Pettinato said.
Expansions are necessary for a growing community, he said, but research and plans are what the Senate should be discussing.
“The (current) proposal is to implement a student fee for an undisclosed amount of money that will go to undisclosed facilities,” Pettinato said.
Sen. Andres Cano, freshmen representative, voted for the facilities fee, but said he was upset when the constitution failed to define what the procedure was for a tiebreak.
“We had the 5-5 vote and I was really shocked that the Vice President, Beth, did not know what to do as far as her vote,” Cano said. “I was under the impression that she did have a vote and that she would be able to break (the tie.)”
“It makes me question where our leadership is at,” Cano said.
At a virtual standstill, the Senate had to come up with some way to pass the vote along. One idea included giving Wischnia a vote as a way to break the tie. However, with no law in the constitution about ties, the Senate had to drop the motion.
Wischnia said she did not think it was right for her to vote because she isn’t a senator.
“I’m really glad that the deciding vote didn’t come down to me,” Wischnia said. “If it came down to my vote, it would have passed.”
Sophomore Sen. Amanda Cram, College of Nursing and Health Innovation, decided to abstain.
“I don’t want to vote yes or no if I don’t know what the students are thinking,” Cram said.
Cram said she thinks student space is needed but would appreciate some sort of plan about how that space is going to be made available.
“I would rather [there be] a solid blueprint of where the money is going to be and what is going to be put up, and then we’ll vote on it,” Cram said.
Cram, who said she plans to survey where her constituents stand on the fee next week, said she wants “hard data” to be the determining factor in the vote.
“I want the students to have a voice,” Cram said.
At the next meeting, the Senate agreed to hear presentations from those in favor and those against the proposed facilities fee, but with no changes in opinion and no legislation to break ties, the Senate could potentially split even again.
“I hope the facilities fee discussion will be less argumentative and more collaborative (next time),” Wischnia said.
Cano said he is hesitant to cast his vote in favor of this fee again. “I just think President (Tania) Mendes has a lot of work to do to tell us why this is something we should support,” Cano said.
He added, “Is this Tania’s vision or is this the Downtown campus’s vision?”
Contact the reporter at jvonsche@asu.edu
