ASCSU passes election pertinent bills
At Wednesday night’s senate meeting, the Associated Students of
CSU passed five bills affecting the organization’s upcoming
election process, in addition to passing a bill asking for the
option of buying wind power in the residence halls. They also
entertained debate on a bill voicing opposition to the Academic
Bill of Rights.
Several bills were passed at the last senate meeting before
application packets for this year’s election process become
available next week.
Bill 3308 changed the election bylaws to lower the amount of
donations a presidential candidate could raise from $3,500 to
$3,000. That reduced amount was originally $1,500 at the time the
bill was first introduced, but later was amended to the $500
amount.
Bill 3311 raised the required grade point average for a
presidential candidate to possess from 2.00 to 2.25. The bill
amended ASCSU’s constitution to make the organization compliant
with the GPA requirements of the Student Organizations Office.
Bill 3316 passed on emergency status and changed the job
descriptions of senators to require a minimum GPA of 2.25.
All five bills passed with little debate as four of them had
been discussed in previous meetings.
The senate also entertained debate on a bill, which would voice
opposition to the Academic Bill of Rights currently in committee at
the Colorado General Assembly.
The bill originally voiced opposition on the grounds the
Academic Bill of Rights would “allow excessive control of academic
affairs by the state legislature.”
The bill was sent to committee and changed to oppose the
Academic Bill of Rights because CSU already has methods in place to
address student rights that are similar to those in the Academic
Bill of Rights.
“We made a lot of changes in this bill, mostly to make it
neutral,” said Mollie Everett, a senator for the College of Applied
Human Sciences.
Some senators believe voicing opposition to a General Assembly
bill reinforcing CSU policy is illogical.
“Why is there adamant opposition to the bill when we already
have these rules in place?” said Ashly Nickel, a senator for the
graduate school.
Some even said the bill would send the wrong message to the
General Assembly.
“Basically we’ll be saying we’re in opposition to having these
rights as students,” said Peter McGuire, a senator for the College
of Engineering.
Some senators also felt they were not in a position to properly
represent their student constituents.
“Any way we vote tonight will be an incorrect assumption of
where our students stand,” said Courtney Stephens, an associate
senator for the College of Liberal Arts.
The bill was sent to committee for another week, in order to
allow senators to further speak with students about their opinions
regarding the Academic Bill of Rights.
Bill 3309, which requests that Housing and Dining Services
provide a mechanism to give students living on campus the choice of
buying wind power was also passed with a vote of 20 to 1.
Nickel voted against the bill because she said Housing and
Dining Services did not have the ability to purchase wind power
directly from the city, but had to go through the university.
Three more members were also appointed to the election committee
Wednesday, bringing the total to eight.
Charles Huntsman, vice president of recruitment for the
Inter-Fraternity Council, Anne Gable, a former ASCSU
parliamentarian and Cord Brundage, who ran as a presidential
candidate last year were all appointed to the committee.
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