The ASUW Senate passed a piece of legislation that streamlines how their committees work, the responsibility of senators, establishing a committee devoted to diversity and how vacancies are filled.
Senator Jacob Kennedy, of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, was one of the authors of the bill. His original intent with Senate Bill #2573, Changes to Senate Committees, was to do away with the Constitution Committee and move all their responsibilities to the Steering Committee.
“It definitely took a turn and got a lot bigger in scale, but I think it turned our really well,” Kennedy said. “I think anything that makes, you know, our student government evaluate their efficiency is really a good thing in my mind.”
The original bill sought to dismantle the constitution committee, which focused on legislation that would affect the ASUW constitution and by-laws. Under the new bill the steering committee will be taking on the constitution committee’s responsibilities.
Amendments to the bill expanded the scope to encompass many problems that senators thought needed to be addressed. The changes were extensive enough that Senator Joel Defebaugh, of the College of Law, was added as an author to the bill.
On his reasoning behind the amendments, Defebaugh said, “One, that there were too many standing committees and senators were being spread a little too thin, because there is only 30 of us and there was I think nine standing committees before this bill passed. So, the thought process was just kind of to hone in and really focus the standing committees on what ASUW needed to do for the students.”
Defebaugh framed the new committee structure so that there are two external committees, two budgetary committees, two internal ASUW and program committees. This will balance the amount of work each committee will have.
The ASUW Advocacy, Diversity and Policy Committee is one of these new committees. According to the bill, the purpose of the new committee is to allow students to voice concerns to the committee and the committee to advocate in such a way to reach the diverse mission of our campus. It also includes a position for the United Multicultural Council to have a voice in these issues.
During the meeting in which Senate Bill 2573 was passed, it received a lot of praise for its inclusion of this committee, including Senator Haley Fried, of the College of Arts and Sciences. “In the section on UMC’s two chairs, we are very happy about this bill,” Fried said. “We are very excited to have an outlet for diversity directly included in the committees.”
Another change that came from this bill was the responsibilities of senators. Previously, they were required to sit on two ASUW committees, but now they will be required to sit on at least one ASUW committee and one university committee.
Defebaugh explained that these committees are made up of students and faculty and tackle a wide array of issues. The requirement to now sit on a university committee is an effort to increase the amount of student representation across the campus. Previously, it was just the responsibility of the ASUW President and Vice President to find students for these committees.
Finally, the bill puts forward a change to how senate vacancies are filled. Over the course of the year, senators do resign and this leaves a gap in ASUW’s coverage of the student body.
Currently, a senate committee works to fill these vacancies. This committee will be one that is dropped under SB 2573 and the individual colleges will work in a democratic process to fill any senate vacancy.
These changes will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
ASUW changes committee responsibilities
