Few attend ASUW task-force forum

The ASUW Student Senate adjourned early to conduct an open forum last night, hoping for student input in the senate-reform process.

The Senate Reform Task Force sponsored the forum and facilitated discussion that focused on student reaction to task-force activities. Task-force members also heard student opinions on what changes need to be made by the student assembly.

Constituency accountability, dual representation and membership were among the issues considered. The last of which occupied the majority of conversation. The membership of the task force was an issue disputed during its creation.

"None of the non-senate members showed to this [meeting]," said Sean Kellogg, a former senate chair and Residence Hall Students Association president.

The absence of non-senators highlighted the idea that senate reform has been taking place with little input from non-ASUW-affiliated students.

Representation issues related to membership may be preventing the task force from initiating constructive change in senate. Some students attribute this deficiency to lack of outreach on behalf of the association as well as poor organization.

"ASUW spends ... too much time legislating and not enough time organizing," said Matteo Tamburini, Ruckus Collective senator. "There is very little outreach into the broader community."

This same concern arose when at-large members were chosen to be on the task force. According to Tamburini, the hurried appointment process and resulting ASUW-affiliated members pose a large problem in the reform of senate.

Some senators, however, don't think that the senate is disproportionately representative and disagree with the idea that membership needs to be reformed. According to Senate Vice Chair Aiko Akers, senate-power issues generally outweigh issues pertaining to membership. Akers also said that outreach on behalf of the ASUW has reached students who want to be senators.

"We don't need membership reform," Akers said. "People who want to be involved in senate are here."

About 40 concerned students, most of them senators, gave input at the public forum. The task force said it will now take their opinions and incorporate them into its discussion on reform at its weekly meetings in HUB 310 at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays.

Additional public forums geared toward reaching non-senators, especially commuter students, will tentatively take place at the Ethnic Cultural Center March 3 and in HUB 309 at 1:30 p.m. March 11.