ASUW vote questioned

The last week has seen intense scrutiny of the actions of the ASUW Student Senate.

The body that charges itself with representing all student organizations and the campus at large has recently been facing issues regarding quorum leading to uncertainty in the representative legitimacy of the organization.

This was embodied in the discussion surrounding last week's approval of the Student Conduct Code extension and the lack of attendance at the meeting.

In her opening report at last night's meeting, ASUW Senate Chair Hala Dillsi attempted to alleviate concerns regarding the failure to call for quorum at last week's meeting.

"We had lots of people leave," said Dillsi. "Senators had to go home, write papers, had to go work on midterms."

"Quorum is defined as 40 percent of our complete membership," said Charles Cadwallader, ASUW membership chair.

A call to quorum results in a roll call of senators, including proxies, which are stand-ins for absent senators. If quorum is not met, the session ends.

There are currently 129 senators, resulting in a requirement of 52 senators to meet quorum.

At the beginning of last week's meeting there were 64 senators and 11 proxies, totaling 75 representatives.

However, by the time a vote was taken on the conduct code issue, quorum was in question.

"It's hard to get a lot of students to attend," said Yutaka Jono, Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS) secretary and acting GPSS senator.

"Our responsibility as officers is to make sure quorum is held," Dillsi said. She later assured senators that anyone could question situations where officers weren't calling quorum. "Anyone can question that," she said.

"I'm not an employer; I can't fire you." Dillsi said. "There's no reason to feel afraid to do so."

Some representatives felt Dillsi was using intimidation tactics at the last meeting, including commuter senator Gary Stute. Dillsi denied these allegations.

"Several younger senators were concerned about there not being quorum but were intimidated by the officers, in particular the chair," said Stute, who felt quorum should have been called.

"We were talking about a sensitive issue (the Student Conduct Code) that was important to students," said Stute. "There was definitely no quorum."

Stute said all members of the senate, including officers, are duty-bound to bring a lack of quorum to the attention of the body.

"She (Dillsi) wouldn't recognize attempts to call quorum, saying, 'No, we need to get this done,'" said Mikhail Smirnov, ASUW senate vice chair.

"I just gave Hala an informal memo [asking if quorum should be called]," said Jono.

An unrecognized motion is not typical, said Cadwallader.

"There's never been a motion made that hasn't been recognized," he said.

Smirnov was among several who were concerned with the situation.

"Afterward, I felt very uncomfortable about what happened," he said.

He also cited other senators who felt pressured to not call quorum and broached the subject in an e-mail sent to the entire Senate after the meeting.

"Quorum is important because without it we can't say it's representative of the group's opinions, beliefs and decisions," Jono said.

Stute agreed.

"Without quorum, we cease to be a legitimate representative body," he said.

Dillsi asserted any calls for quorum would have been recognized.

"No one made a call to quorum, but had they, it would have been recognized," she said, adding there was a motion to table by Jono because there was no quorum.

The legislation was not tabled, leading to a vote in favor of extension of the student conduct code.

Both Dillsi and Smirnov will be defending their positions as officers at next week's ASUW Senate meeting.

Reach reporter Kass Bessert at news@thedaily.washington.edu.