ASU Undergraduate Student Gov’t signs against Prop. 107
Via Sonoran Alliance, I read through a list of Prop 107’s opposers, which happened to include the ASU Undergraduate Student Government and the ASU Residence Hall Association.
I haven’t researched ASASU’s guidelines on this kind of stuff, but I did casually go through the ASUA Constitution and Bylaws. The Constitution makes no mention of outside politics. The Bylaws contains five mentions of terms containing the spelling "politic," amounting to the following.
(I.A.) No ASUA service, program, project, or committee shall endorse political events, lobby, or in any manner try to influence legislation unless authorized by the Legislative Branch or unless otherwise specified in these Bylaws. This will not affect programming of an educational nature. No ASUA elected representative, acting in an official capacity, shall endorse or shall introduce, unless equally and without exception, any political organizations, candidates, or events unless authorized by the legislative branch and approved by the ASUA President.
and…
(XI.B.5.) ASUA will fund politically oriented or religious recognized student organizations or clubs on the same basis as all other recognized student organizations. No recognized student organization will receive or be denied funding based upon its viewpoint. However, ASUA can only fund for the administration, execution, or maintenance of non-political/non-religious programs, services, or special events that are deemed beneficial to the student body by the ASUA Appropriations Board.
and…
(XII.A.) The ASUA Appropriations Board shall act as a non-political, funding advisory body to the ASUA Senate for all ASUA recognized clubs and organizations. All of its procedures shall assure fair and proper allocation of funds in accordance with the ASUA Constitution and Bylaws. All Appropriation Board decisions shall be subject to approval by the ASUA Senate.
These bylaws only take a simple majority to override, so I’m unconvinced that ASUA within itself has enough safeguard to prevent entering outside politics. Furthermore, I’m unaware of any UA policies, Board of Regents policies, or state laws that might influence this.
It’s already wrong for the Arizona Students’ Association to charge us a (refundable) dollar per semester to lobby for positions that we don’t necessarily support. It’s wrong and downright hypocritical for ASUA to have a "Pride Alliance" when students with other moral positions on homosexuality don’t get equal standing. Let’s hope they don’t take this farther.
Note: If you are a student at an Arizona public university and you want your dollar back, hit up asadoyourjob.org.
