ASUSU denies RHSA speaking rights
After a public forum that occasionally had people on both sides of the issue concerned about growing tension and anger, Utah State University’s student government voted overwhelmingly against allowing a representative of on-campus residents to speak at meetings.
At its weekly meeting Tuesday, the Associated Students of USU Executive Council voted 18-1 against the proposed bill, which would have allowed the Residence Hall Student Association to send a representative with speaking rights to council meetings.
The vote came after more than 75 people filled the Taggart Student Center Senate Chambers, Room 336, to participate in the public forum.
Currently, only council members can speak during discussion of legislation unless the council votes to suspend the rules and allow a non-member to speak. During designated public forums, anyone at the meeting has the right to speak.
The proposed legislation would have extended speaking rights but not voting rights to an RHSA representative.
RHSA supporters told the council on-campus residents constitute a distinct group of students not represented under current council setup. Council members, however, said the bill would give residents of student housing over-representation, among other concerns.
Several members also said they felt RHSA had not first tried to make use of the council as it currently works.
“The system that is in place is an effective one, if it’s used correctly,” said ASUSU Extension Vice President Jake McBride. “We’re still all here. Whether they use us or not, there are 20 of us here.”
McBride complimented RHSA supporters for the many letters they sent to council members and said that kind of action needs to be more widely used if RHSA really wants its voice heard in the council.
But RHSA President Dallin Young said many on-campus residents go to their college senators only for college-related issues, if at all, and would be more likely to discuss housing-related concerns with an RHSA representative
“In a perfect world, everyone would know who their college senator is,” Young said. However, he said many students don’t know. He said residents of campus housing do know how to contact their resident assistants and other RHSA representatives.
But ASUSU Academic Vice President Jim Stephenson said all council members have links on the ASUSU Web site, office hours posted on their office doors and other ways students can find them.
He also said giving RHSA speaking rights would give on-campus residents more representation than other students have.
“If we have RHSA speaking rights, then we should have Oakridge speaking rights; we should have Old Farm speaking rights,” Stephenson said, referring to two off-campus apartment complexes.
But Janie Greenwood, a resident assistant in Richards Hall, said the way the council is currently set up, it is too difficult for residents with concerns to have their voices heard.
“I feel like USU is a huge pit of bureaucracy,” she said. “I feel like sending my residents to a senator is counterproductive.”
But ASUSU Executive Vice President Rex Hansen said the bill would actually add more bureaucracy. He said without RHSA speaking rights, the only “level of bureaucracy” to make the RHSA voice heard is to “lean over” and ask a council member to move to suspend the rules so an RHSA representative can comment on an issue concerning on-campus residents.
“I think it’s foolish to jump into a system that has not been adequately explored and demand a change,” Hansen said.
He said residents, and all students, are encouraged to contact council members about any concerns they have. He was one of several members to say students in campus housing should try to do those kinds of things to use the system as it is before trying to change it.
The public forum was originally scheduled to last 15 minutes, but council members voted to extend it several times so most people who wanted to speak could be heard. Official debate of the legislation was also extended several times. The crowd was not allowed to comment during the debate, but Young was, due to a council vote to suspend the rules.
Although overwhelmingly opposed to RHSA speaking rights, council members said they want to find other ways to solve the problem of on-campus residents feeling they have no voice in the council.
ASUSU Organizations Vice President Chelsie Crane, who said she was opposed to giving RHSA speaking rights, said she was not opposed to working with RHSA.
“I hope that the outcome of this bill leads to more collaboration between the two groups,” she said.
She said she wasn’t aware of RHSA’s concerns before the meeting and wished those with concerns had talked to her about them so she could bring legislation or other solutions to the council.
In the end, the only council member voting in favor of the bill was its sponsor, ASUSU Student Advocate Bradley Bishop.
During the public forum, several RHSA representatives and council members said they felt the discussion was becoming too confrontational and asked all involved to focus on working together and asking construction questions of each other.