ASASUD senators unanimously confirmed the appointments of two new judiciary board members as well as a new senator for University College in a special session Wednesday night.
Nursing freshman Emily Spahn and criminal justice and criminology sophomore Tyson Yazzie bring the number of members in the judiciary board to three, leaving two open spots, while the addition of undeclared junior Cameron Polom leaves the College of Teacher Education and Leadership with the final vacant Senate seat.
Polom said he is very excited to get even more involved with ASASUD. Previously Polom was on the Student Fee Committee, which was disbanded this week when ASASUD discovered such a committee was prohibited in their constitution, said Olga Lykhvar, director of administration.
“First I am going to communicate with the other University College senator, who has some meetings set up with the dean [of University College,]” Polom said. “In the meantime, I am trying to find out what issues are important and get to know my constituents.”
As senator, one of the first things Polom will deal with will be the stalled vote on the facilities fee proposed by President Tania Mendes.
Polom said he is not going to comment on the fee until he has a better feel for what students from University College want.
“I’m going to make sure I get some polls before I speak for anyone yet,” he said.
The Senate is currently scheduled to re-vote on the fee at their next meeting on Oct. 30. In the Senate’s previous session, the vote ended in a tie, with no directions in the constitution about what to do in such cases.
On Wednesday, Sen. Dustin Volz, of Barrett, the Honors College, said he is going to propose the formation of a constitutional reform committee at the next Senate meeting because the current constitution is not a functioning document.
“At our first meeting we talked about how we needed to make amendments to the constitution, and we’re halfway through the semester with no changes,” he said. “I think it’s time to solve this problem and start working with a usable constitution.”
Director of Administration Lykhvar said she doesn’t see a need for a constitutional reform committee because any member of the Downtown campus can propose an amendment to the constitution with a petition of 100 signatures.
“Furthermore, there is a judicial board in place, which is [intended] to review the constitution each year,” she said. “I fully agree that amendments need to be made, and currently, with the help of other students, I am gathering signatures for proposed amendments that I am hoping to present at the Oct. 30 Senate meeting.”
President Mendes also said she feels a constitutional reform committee is unnecessary.
“I feel there has been a miscommunication or failure to look deep into the constitution,” Mendes said. “We knew the constitution was vague going into this [year,] and when things like [ties in the Senate] come up, we’re going to need to make amendments the way the constitution says and work together.”
Downtown campus students voted on the constitution last spring.
Mendes said she voted for it and went to the forums hosted by the last administration that discussed the current constitution.
“I voted for it because I knew it was important that something pass and finally allow students to proceed with an actual student government,” she said.
However, Volz said he was unaware there was a vote last year on the constitution.
“Clearly there wasn’t a lot of communication about this,” Volz said. “I feel, as it stands now, the constitution needs the full force of ASASUD.”
Volz said he envisions members of the Senate, executive board and judiciary board working together to reform the constitution. If the senate approves a revised constitution, he said he thinks students should have the opportunity to vote on it again.
“We need to hastily but effectively revise the constitution so we can proceed,” Volz said.
Mendes said she wants to make amendments to the constitution before proceeding with the vote on facilities fee.
“We need to take a step back and wait until some new amendments are in place,” Mendes said. “I don’t want to go forward with any vote until we are ready with procedures should the vote end in a tie again.”
Lykhvar said a Senate vote cannot end in a tie because it is implied in the constitution that a legislative proposal from the executive branch requires a two-thirds Senate majority.
“If the Senate must vote in officers that the president appoints by a two-thirds vote than it only makes sense that any legislative proposals that the president presents be also voted by a two-thirds vote,” Lykhvar said.
Lykhvar said she hopes a senator at the next meeting asks to amend the last meeting’s minutes and requests waiting on a facilities fee re-vote.
“It’s not necessary to re-vote if there is no process for breaking a tie,” she said. “It makes no sense to do it again and end in a tie. We need to wait to see what the students really want.”
Contact the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu
