A new resolution to address the Associated Students of the University of Nevada’s recent struggles to fill senate seats hit the table at a speedy meeting Oct. 23.
The resolution’s authors didn’t consult an ASUN staffer whose job description would be altered by it, and the measure beat a retreat back to committee in time for the meeting to close at 7:00 p.m.
An email or a text, perhaps?
Carmina Aglubat and Joel Martin, senators for the College of Liberal Arts, introduced “S.B.R. 92 – A Binding Resolution to Clarify a Timeline and Procedures for Senate Appointments.
It’s taken months to fetch enough senators to cover the College of Science, College of Liberal Arts, College of Engineering and College of Business — with business still vacant after the senate voted down its only candidate. Aglubat and Martin tried to correct the situation with requirements for advertising and application windows.
“Some seats are open forever, and some seats are not open as long, and so I do think that we need some consistency,” Aglubat said.
Aween Ali, speaker of the senate, added that business will continue to be the senate’s bugaboo, as only one person had applied to fill the seat since the last candidate was voted down, and they weren’t even eligible.
But the requirement for advertising piqued the attention of Carina Scharoun, ASUN’s director of campus and public relations. No one involved with the bill told her that if it passed, she’d be responsible for boosting senate vacancies on social media, which isn’t part of her job description.
Ali then decided to refer the bill back to committee because she argued Aglubat and Martin sent it in too hastily. Before it came to the senate table, she said, someone should have at least let Scharoun know.
“Please include the people that you are going to be talking about in the piece as well; include them in the conversation,” Ali said. “If you don’t, there are going to be surprises like this.”
Martin then argued against Ali’s verdict.
“I’m not saying that this is perfect,” Martin said, “but from what I see, if we ask [Scharoun] to post an Instagram post, it is her job to post the Instagram post. If you read through the piece that I’ve presented to you tonight with [Aglubat], doesn’t that seem like it’s her duty?”
Aglubat, meanwhile, explained to senators that the process could’ve gone more smoothly.
“We did have an oversight issue and we did forget to contact one of the entities in this piece as well,” Aglubat said.
The resolution was referred to the Committee on Government Operations. It later passed unanimously when re-introduced Nov. 13.
Another piece about Scharoun’s position, “S.B. 92 – A Bill To Amend The Director of Campus and Public Relations & Establish the Department of Campus and Public Relations,” was postponed to the following week.
Senators started to pack at least a minute before Ali adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
“Can you guys please just wait until I finish, oh my gosh,” Ali told senators. “You guys are leaving right after anyways!”
Peregrine Hart can be reached via email at peregrineh@unr.edu or on Instagram @pintofperegrine.
