A freshman and a College of Law student were confirmed for two-year terms of service on the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming’s Judicial Council.
Joseph Chenchar, currently in his first year as a law student, and Anne Lichtfuss, a freshman from Loveland, Colo., were approved for the appointments at the senate meeting on Oct. 23.
Chenchar had been involved with ASUW most of his undergraduate career. He served on freshman senate, worked with a number of committees as a student-at-large and later become a senator.
His greatest asset to the judicial council, Chenchar said, is his experience with ASUW and his experience on the election committee. Elections disputes are the common issues that the judicial council sees.
Chenchar said he plans to bring an unbiased voice to the council in order to counteract “the impassioned, emotional way that they go about dealing with things at senate meetings.
“Senate, right now, doesn’t utilize this branch as much as they could,” Chenchar said.
Chenchar said he looked forward to applying what he’s learning in law school to help the judicial council.
“I often dissented with opinions that people brought up at meetings, and I was always able to provide my own analysis and my own reasoning. That’s the point of the law, is to see the bigger picture and discern which side has the most merit,” Chenchar said.
Lichtfuss, the other newly appointed justice, sought a position on the judicial council to get more involved on campus and to learn more about the judicial process. Her application caused some controversy on the senate floor due to her freshman status.
“During the process of me becoming accepted as justice, there was quite a debate over me being a freshman and can I do the job and am I motivated,” Lichtfuss said. “I am willing to learn and I can do whatever job I am given because I am a quick learner.”
Lichtfuss said her leadership experiences in high school and some academic studies in government have prepared her for the duties of justice. She is currently majoring in international studies and plans to pursue a career as a diplomat.
“I get excited about the opportunity to be participating in what the school is doing,” Lichtfuss said.
ASUW judicial council members are appointed by the ASUW president and confirmed by the senate. Justices on the judicial council are appointed for two years and are staggered so there are always a few experienced members.
William Weber, senior lecturer in the mathematics department, has been the judicial council’s faculty advisor since 2006.
Weber said the purpose of the judicial council is to rule on interpretation of meaning in ASUW documents and on perceived violations by members of ASUW.
“ASUW government is set up analogous to the system of government in the United States, with legislative, executive and judicial branches,” Weber said. “It provides a check and balance against the other two branches.”
Most of the disputes are related to elections, but sometimes the cases touch larger issues. A major past ruling by the judicial council occurred over the issue of apportionment in 2006, when Weber first became involved with the organization.
Weber was teaching a class where they studied apportionment, which is the mathematical formula by which the numbers of senators are assigned to colleges. He used ASUW senate as a classroom example, but the numbers did not add up.
“We calculated the correct apportionment by a number of different methods and none of them matched what was being done. We spoke with people in ASUW and no one really knew how the numbers were being chosen. There was no formula that anyone was following,” Weber said.
Just prior to the election that year, Weber and some students brought the issue before the senate.
Weber argued that the number of senators that they were running and the positions they said were available was “in conflict with the ASUW constitution.”
The senate at the time went ahead with elections, but the judicial council only allowed the top vote recipients for each college to be seated on the senate. All other candidates were held until the senate seats were apportioned correctly.
Weber said the council has not seen cases quite like that since, but they still perform an important function in ASUW and that they are working to keep a presence in ASUW activities.
“I would say the council is stronger now that it was 10 years ago,” Weber said.
