As the Associated Student Government correspondent during this academic year, I’ve spent my Wednesday nights in the back of UC 213, listening to senators debate bills, discuss their constitution and try to fix internal issues.
But, for those of you who didn’t have the pleasure of following our student government as closely as I did, what were the highlights of 2017-2018?
Below are some of the best and, of course, some of the most frustrating, moments from ASG this semester.
WORST: The alleged unconstitutional conference committee
ASG’s first real crisis during 2017-2018 came in November, when Senate Leader Sam Gaasch appointed the ASG representatives in place of Vice President Gabby Gile. Gaasch also cast the tie-breaking vote to side with the Fee Allocation Committee representatives, instead of the ASG ones — which, in the eyes of some senators, was a breach of her role as senate leader.
While the unconstitutional committee was brushed off as oversight, the lack of understanding regarding why exactly there had been a breach to this document revealed a greater problem: many newer senators didn’t even understand their own guiding document.
The situation led to a watered-down resolution, constitutional changes to prevent the situation from occurring again, and the now infamous Gile quote: “Do you guys know what we’re voting on right now?”
WORST: The grievance war
Likely the worst part of the year for both ASG and The Criterion were the grievances filed between Sen. Richard Nguyen and editors of The Criterion. First, Nguyen accused Editor in Chief Alec Williams and News Editor Chris DeLeon of unethical journalism, due to the publication of an extremely lewd rape threat.
DeLeon argued the direct publication of the quote provided evidence for readers of how truly horrifying the threats were, and Williams and many other editors supported him. The group filed a grievance against him, citing what they considered to be a threat to their student fee-funded budget.
ASG briefly investigated the grievance filed against Nguyen, but dismissed it due to lack of evidence. The ensuing debate led to constitutional amendments outlining the grievance process, and a bitterness between the two organizations that lasted for months afterward.
BEST: The CMU consolidated calendar
The Criterion called for this in an editorial. Students around campus complained they didn’t know when and where events were. Even in The Criterion’s most recent online poll, the greatest percentage of students (30 percent) said they didn’t attend sporting events because they didn’t know when or where they were.
Vice President Gabby Gile took these concerns on as her personal project and worked with Mike Mansheim, acting executive director of marketing, to update the calendar found on the CMU website to include athletic, academic, special and artistic events, as well as those sponsored by Student Life.
BEST: ASG supports the Veteran’s Laptop Project
Project founder John Beezley has been one of ASG’s most frequent visitors during the 2018 spring semester. After discussing his project during public input, ASG put together a bill to purchase six of the program’s current 20 laptops. The bill was passed unanimously, after a strong endorsement from Sen. Jeff Vela.
In a few more years, if Beezley continues to follow his dream and expand the program nationwide into a non-profit, ASG will have had a hand in the founding of an important service.
WORST: Oh yeah…we have a Montrose campus…
The discussion surrounding the Montrose campus began when Sen. Nayeli Zavala, the Montrose representative, proposed a bill to provide students at this campus with gym passes, since they are unable to use the Hamilton Recreation Center for which their student fees pay. ASG (barely) passed the bill, with some senators such as Sen. Jeff Vela calling the bill a “Band-Aid fix.”
The bill spurred an important discussion about the Montrose campus, its purpose and if it’s fair or not for students who attend this campus to pay fees. Senators seemed passionate about finding a solution — but failed to provide one by the end of the year.
When it came time for their annual meeting at the Montrose campus, the visit was pushed back and eventually forgotten in the wake of the election. Now, senators claim they will search for an alternate way to reach out to these students — but there’s only one week left in the school year.
BEST: ASG (finally) passes the constitution
To call the constitutional amendment process — and its accompanying bylaw and Fee Allocation Committee bylaw changes — ambitious would be an understatement after the hours senators put in during meetings and outside of them to prepare the document for some much-needed amendments.
I hope someone totaled the hours these students put in. Seriously. Because as just a correspondent who didn’t attend any outside meetings, it felt endless at times.
After pushing the changes through their own senate body after weeks of discussion, ASG still needed 10 percent of the student body to vote in favor of the changes. Gile and Linzey’s optimism and campus-wide polling booths prevailed — the constitution passed with 665 votes (83 percent) in favor.
Hopefully, their work will allow next year’s body to leave this document alone for a while.
WORST: Mav Awards tainted by missing documents
Bias or no bias, ASG and Student Life claimed to have lost the documents pertaining to the nominations for the Mav Awards. The documents, if released, could have vindicated Gile and Director of External Affairs Chrystina Meador from allegations of bias, or proved former Director of the Cultural Diversity Board Shelby Cerise right.
The truth is lost somewhere on a CMU server or in the memories of those involved.
Despite the effort put into the Mav Awards ceremony by Meador and the pride a student should feel upon winning an award, the ceremony was tainted for some, due to the allegations of bias and the lack of transparency.
BEST: MAVroon
Do I like the name MAVroon? No, I do not.
But, the change, proposed by President Ben Linzey who is possibly the sincerest Maverick on this entire campus, seems strangely appropriate. When The Criterion published an opinion piece poking fun at the choice, Linzey responded cheekily on Facebook: “Next up, North Mavenue.”
CMU has “Mav” in front of too many words already for one extra word to put the spirit of the Mavily over the top. We laugh this year, but in three or four more, students will be referencing Mavroon with the same air of casualness that we say Mavcard and Mavpav.
