Grossman said the decision to resign was based heavily on the presidents’ inability to speak out against ASA and its avenues of spending the $2 that every ASU student pays toward the organization each semester, totaling about $300,000 a year.
USG Tempe passed Senate Bill 30 late Tuesday night allowing the removal of a bylaw stating its president must serve on the ASA Board of Directors. Naufel sent his resignation from the board at 11:55 p.m., directly after the 24-2 approval of the bill, USG Tempe Senate President Joshua Watson said. The other campuses had no such bylaw, allowing the other presidents to resign without the passage of a bill.
“Now I’m free to talk and advocate for my students,” Naufel said. “I’m excited for the discussions we’re going to be having in the future.”
Vice presidents of policy at the Downtown and Polytechnic campuses, David Bakardjiev and Shauniece High respectively, both resigned from the board, as well.
Tempe Vice President of Policy Brendan Pantilione, however, did not resign and will remain on the board.
Pantilione said the decision for the presidents to step down from the board is horrible for students because ASA will keep running without their representation. Pantilione said the presidents had the opportunity as board members to change the organization from within but ultimately chose to work against it.
“Those campuses now don’t have a voice in decisions that affect their students,” Pantilione said. “They’re only harming their constituents by not being a voice for them at the table.”
Grossman, Naufel and Polytechnic student government President Jeffrey Hebert, who resigned from the ASA board on Sept. 13, said they found talking about their concerns challenging due to fiduciary duty, a federal policy that forbids a nonprofit organization’s directors from speaking out against it.
“There’s no need for this organization,” Naufel said. “It’s outdated, and now they’re misusing our students’ money, and it’s time to talk about it.”
Grossman said that ASA has no relevancy with any university or with the Board of Regents and that it only remains in existence because it has always been around. He said all three state universities fundamentally have different mission statements and an umbrella organization trying to advocate for all three at once isn’t working.
“Students don’t know where their money is going,” Naufel said. “They wouldn’t be happy if they knew. And nobody’s been able to tell them because the people involved in the organization’s voices are silenced.”
Grossman said he proposed 11 bills last year to better the organization and help ASU, and only two were enacted.
Some of the issues Grossman said he was discussing included rotating the chair of ASA, who consistently has been from Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona; cutting the overhead cost; and giving the fee money back to the individual schools to allow them to invest it as they see fit.
“They don’t like me because I call truth on everything, all year, every year,” Grossman said. “We need to cultivate an environment in which you can openly admit and dry out the failures of an organization, and you can collectively come together as leaders to make it better. That was not able to happen.”
Naufel and Grossman both said ASA operated illegally on a couple of matters, discussions they said they intend on delving into in the future.
Grossman said he received both a text and an email from ASA Executive Director Casey Dreher threatening legal action after a board meeting on Sept. 13, where he discussed the direction he wanted the organization to take. The email was sent to the presidents, urging them to talk to a lawyer within ASA, Grossman said.
“If you want to play a game and threaten to sue us, then we’re not going to play that game,” Grossman said. “That’s an unprofessional way of doing it, and I’m very disappointed they took that step.”
ASA Chairman Wes Enns said some members of the board were considering action against Grossman after Grossman liked a Facebook page that opposed Proposition 204, a measure ASA is funding. Enns said legal action was considered a last resort.
Enns said he is sad to see Downtown students lose their representation on the board.
“By Grossman not being on the board of ASA, he’s not fulfilling his responsibilities to students,” Enns said.
“I think it’s sad that students are losing a portion of their voice,” said Megan Riley, ASA director for the Tempe campus. “ASA does a lot of great things for its students, and it makes me sad when they lose any type of representation.”
Luke Webster, the West campus student government president, chose not to serve on the board at the beginning of the year.
“All the undergraduate presidents unanimously agreed that the organization is not healthy and we need to resign,” Grossman said. “I think that says enough. It stands on its own as legitimate.”
Contact the report at kfallon1@asu.edu
