ASUSU exec. council removes Parkhurst
Arts and Lecture Director Skyler Parkhurst was removed from his position early last week for reasons that have been made confidential by ASUSU advisers and council members.
“There are probably a lot of rumors out there, but he is leaving because of personal issues, and there is the FERPA rule we have to follow,” said Linda Zimmerman, interim director for student involvement.
FERPA stands for the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which protects students’ private matters and academic records. All publicly-funded academic institutions must abide by this act.
According to www.ed.gov, “FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level.”
In the ASUSU Constitution, Article 4, Section 5 states that official removal from an appointed position therefor must be a submission of written charges against the individual and a two-thirds majority vote from the executive council to have the individual removed. The individual must also accept their charges, be tried and then convicted by Student Court.
Because the Arts and Lectures Director is an appointed position, selected by ASUSU’s Programming Vice President, currently Tom Atwood, another individual may be selected to fill Parkhurst’s position. A meeting was held Friday to decide the best route to take due to the circumstances.
“I think what we are going to do is after our meeting (Friday) we are going to appoint someone. However, the final decision will have to come from the executive council on Wednesday,” Zimmerman said.
Atwood worked with USU’s Student Services Vice President James Morales and Student Services Associate Vice President Eric Olsen to decide whether the Arts and Lectures director position will be filled for the remainder of the spring 2011 semester. Another option would be to disperse Parkhurst’s duties amongst members of ASUSU and the programming staff. However, Morales said he feels the likelihood of appointing a new arts and lectures director is high.
“The students aren’t going to feel any hiccups in the programming,” Atwood said. “Most of the remaining semester has been planned and we’ve got a lot of exciting things to look forward to.”
– catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu