2008 Woodie Awards
Were ASUWT elections legal?
Controversy surrounding election guidelines prompted a special senate meeting in which previous mistakes were brought to light.
Kristin Draus
Issue date: 5/22/08 Section: News
Electing a previously impeached senator as the new ASUWT president has opened up a whole can of worms.
Almost three weeks after they announced the election results, the ASUWT sent an e-mail to the student body regarding "an important issue relating to the recent elections."
According to the e-mail, "concerns brought forth may affect the student government team who will be representing you next year." Other than ASUWT officers and Ledger reporters, no students attended the meeting. By the time the senate got to the bottom of the issue at their May 16 meeting, even more concerns had surfaced.
The problem started with the elections guidelines sent to candidates, which initially barred Tommy Bauer, who had been impeached as senator last fall, from entering the race.
The senate impeached Bauer for failing to attend summer training sessions as a senator. According to the election guidelines that were distributed, an impeached senator would have to wait two years before running for another position. Bauer decided to run anyway.
The clause was later removed from the guidelines, resulting in two sets of guidelines and some confusion among candidates. The confusion culminated in the May 16 meeting, in which the entire election process came into question. As the senate discussed the issue, more problems emerged.
For instance, none of the constitutional bylaws offers specific guidelines on the election process. As well, the bylaws they use have been illegally updated since their July 2005 approval from the UW Board of Regents.
Cedric Howard, the associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs and the chief Student Affairs officer, was in attendance to answer any questions. The first question was whether a discrepancy between two sets of election guidelines could compromise the election results.
Current ASUWT President Wil Johnson said the clause was originally added by the senate after Bauer's impeachment in order to address why and how Bauer could run for office.
Almost three weeks after they announced the election results, the ASUWT sent an e-mail to the student body regarding "an important issue relating to the recent elections."
According to the e-mail, "concerns brought forth may affect the student government team who will be representing you next year." Other than ASUWT officers and Ledger reporters, no students attended the meeting. By the time the senate got to the bottom of the issue at their May 16 meeting, even more concerns had surfaced.
The problem started with the elections guidelines sent to candidates, which initially barred Tommy Bauer, who had been impeached as senator last fall, from entering the race.
The senate impeached Bauer for failing to attend summer training sessions as a senator. According to the election guidelines that were distributed, an impeached senator would have to wait two years before running for another position. Bauer decided to run anyway.
The clause was later removed from the guidelines, resulting in two sets of guidelines and some confusion among candidates. The confusion culminated in the May 16 meeting, in which the entire election process came into question. As the senate discussed the issue, more problems emerged.
For instance, none of the constitutional bylaws offers specific guidelines on the election process. As well, the bylaws they use have been illegally updated since their July 2005 approval from the UW Board of Regents.
Cedric Howard, the associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs and the chief Student Affairs officer, was in attendance to answer any questions. The first question was whether a discrepancy between two sets of election guidelines could compromise the election results.
Current ASUWT President Wil Johnson said the clause was originally added by the senate after Bauer's impeachment in order to address why and how Bauer could run for office.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Jonathan Long
posted 5/23/08 @ 3:07 PM PST
The confusion over this election would not have caused any problems if ALL the candidates paid attention during our mandatory meeting prior to elections starting. (Continued…)
nick
posted 6/06/08 @ 4:41 PM PST
How refreshing it is to see that ASUWT is still giving you some good copy in my absence! I seem to recall a similar story last year...hopefully you're not stuck in the same nuclear standoff with them as a result. (Continued…)
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