A failed vote to suspend ASUW’s finance policy was the cause of some consternation during the student government’s Tuesday meeting, as two RSOs who had missed funding request deadlines were unable to appeal the senate due to delays within the senate itself.
The finance policy, which can be viewed on ASUW’s website, mandates that senators who intend to appeal a denied funding request on behalf of an RSO must notify the senate and the vice president of their intent to do so 6 hours in advance of a senate meeting. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Wyoming African Students Association both submitted funding requests three days short of the five-week deadline before planned events required by ASUW’s RSO Funding Board.
The next step for the organizations was to approach a senator to volunteer to make the appeal—Senator Anna Savage, of the Haub School, agreed to do so but also fell short of the required deadline, and made a motion to temporarily suspend the finance policy and make an exception for the RSOs.
“Because my official request went out about 14 minutes late we missed the six-hour required deadline in order to hear those appeals, so if we can suspend this
[policy]
we give these RSOs the chance to plead their case,” Savage said during the meeting.
Such a vote requires a 4/5 majority, and the 17-5 result meant the RSOs were unable to make the appeals. Members of the organizations who had been present in the gallery left the meeting once it became clear the senate would not be hearing appeals for funding.
“It’s true we have rules for a reason, but our rules also have suspension policies for a reason,” Chief of Legislative Affairs Nicole Sanders said. “If the reason is to give your constituents a voice, I personally think that’s a good enough reason to suspend it.”
Sanders, as a member of ASUW’s executive branch, was unable to involve herself in senate debate until the open-forum period of discussion called ‘processing’ that occurs at the end of ASUW meetings.
The initial point against suspending the policy was made by Arts and Sciences senator and chair of the Budget and Planning Committee, Derrick Conard. Conard emphasized the importance of maintaining the consistency of the policy and avoiding a domino effect of suspended policies that could set a precedent for smudged deadlines in the future.
“We have touched on this before with other RSOs when they tried to ask for funding. I’m suggesting, as a point of just trying to keep you out of the hot waters, leaving it alone,” Conard said.
An option still remains for the organizations to seek ASUW funding of their events, as stated by College of Education Senator Dusten Strock who agreed that the vote was a failure on the part of the senate.
“This isn’t necessarily the end of the road for these RSOs, they do still have the option to appeal to the Judicial Council,” Strock said. “It may not be in time for them to get their funding but it’s still an option for them.”
Members of the RSOs themselves have not yet been available for comment.
During the legislative portion of the meeting, senators unanimously passed ASUW’s estimated budget for fiscal year 2020, totaling $1,144,766. The lion’s share of that funding will come from the ASUW student fee of $45.69 per student, per semester, amounting to $867,562. Various other funds and endowments will account for the remaining $277,204.
The only financial adjustment to bill SB-2648 was the reallocation of an additional $500 from ASUW reserves to the Social Justice Outreach Fund for the ASUW United Multicultural Council, setting UMC’s budget at $13,744. $12,744 is allotted to UMC from student fees.
Other allotments of student fees included, but were not limited to, $137,946 to the RSO Funding Board and $126,368 for student legal services. The full bill can soon be found on ASUW’s page of the UW website.
ASUW President Alex Mulhall said the budget, and its utilization of student fees, is not necessarily solely the product of senators’ decisions.
“Truly, if students come forward with opinions and ideas, they could make a huge change,” Mulhall said.
New legislation was introduced in the form of SR-2649, which would create an ad-hoc (‘when necessary’) committee for diversity, equity and inclusion on the grounds that ASUW’s 4-year strategic plan, “Moving Forward 2018-2022” did not include enough focus on diversity-related goals for the UW community.
ASUW senators and officials meet each Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Union Senate Chambers. Thursday night listening sessions are also held at the same time and place for students and others to ask questions and get more information about ASUW legislation.
