ASUW senators clashed with executives during Tuesday’s meeting over a bill that would have limited executives’ speaking privileges that ultimately failed.
ASUW Senator Cory Schroeder of the College of Business introduced Senate Bill 2446 to separate powers between the legislative and executive branches.
The bill comes in response to the notion that “current practices blur the boundaries between the powers and duties of the Legislative and Executive branches of ASUW,” according to the bill.
Many senators supported the bill on the grounds that ASUW executives are appointed, not elected by students. Proponents of the bill said this makes executives less representative of the UW student population as well as less beholden to student interests.
Josh Messer, a senator representing the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources said, “This bill is a move in the right direction.”
ASUW President Ahmed Balogun strongly opposed the bill, and said the student government is different from both state and national governments.
Balogun referred to student bodies that do not separate the executive and legislative braches, such as those at Colorado and Colorado State University.
Balogun strongly opposed excluding the president from the bill as some senators suggested. This would have made the ASUW president the connecter between the legislative and the executive branch.
The bill also allowed members of the executive branch to provide pertinent information when permitted to do so by senators. The bill read, “such a change would in no way abridge the right of any member of the Student Senate to yield his or her time to a member of the Executive Branch for their expert opinion.”
Despite support from the majority of the legislature the bill failed in part because of the modifications made by some senators. A similar bill is expected in coming weeks.
