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A change that would allow some senators to be appointed to the ASUNM legislature rather than be elected failed Wednesday night.
Senate Bill 9S, the proposed constitutional amendment, would add four non-elected senators to ASUNM’s 20-member legislature, to be appointed by a committee. Senate Bill 10S would have changed ASUNM’s rule book to provide procedures for adding the four new senators.
It failed by a vote of 11-9. Such amendments require a two-thirds majority to be submitted to the student body for consideration.
Senate Bill 10S was tabled for later consideration by a unanimous vote.
The two pieces of legislation would have provided for four senators to be added to ASUNM’s current legislature of 20 senators. Those senators would possess all the duties of elected senators, except they would not be eligible to chair committees or serve as president pro tempore of the ASUNM Senate.
A committee consisting of members of ASUNM’s executive, legislative and judicial branches would appoint those four senators. If a candidate lost in an election, they would have been eligible to apply to be considered for appointment by the committee.
The bills, sponsored by ASUNM senators Earl Shank and Brandon Meyers, were an attempt to give non-traditional students and students without comprehensive contact networks on campus an equal chance at becoming senators.
“There are some students on campus who have the ability to make great senators, but simply do not have the connections, through Greek life or otherwise, that would help them get elected,” Shank said in a speech.
Sen. Meyers addressed concerns from the legislature that the committee system could be abused by senatorial candidates who felt qualified, but did not want to campaign, or that it could be used as a consolation prize for candidates who simply lost.
“We set up this committee with its members from all three branches to weed out individuals who would abuse the system, and to give the opportunity to individuals who would have been an excellent senator and just didn’t get the chance in an election,” Meyers said.
Meyers also mentioned the proposed amendment’s precedent: in the past ASUNM had appointed senators to its legislature. However, he said he had “no idea” why ASUNM stopped appointing senators, or about the details of such appointments.
The amendment met fierce opposition from Sen. Taylor Bui in the meeting’s only speech delivered standing up.
“This amendment would not truly address our diversity problem,” Bui said. “We must try other avenues and not admit that we have no faith in the students and in our election system.”
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Sen. Damon Hudson spoke out in defense of the proposed amendment.
“We had to create senator accountability rules because we couldn’t trust our senators to do three simple things: show up to office hours, show up to senate meetings and show up to committee meetings,” Hudson said. “We should give the chance to students who actually want to do these things, we must let the students vote on (this amendment).”
Sens. Shank and Meyers may be able to resubmit Senate Bill 9S and Senate Bill 10S for consideration next semester, but Wednesday’s meeting was the last chance to submit such legislation, according to ASUNM Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Fleischer.
Also during the meeting, the ASUNM executive branch discussed plans to address concerns from students about Chick-fil-A staying in the SUB.
ASUNM Chief of Staff Greg Montoya-Mora outlined changes that ASUNM will be advocating to help students feel safer in the SUB.
“We’re working to introduce safe-zone training for vendors in the SUB and all Chartwells businesses on campus starting later this month,” Montoya-Mora said.
ASUNM President Caroline Muraida said she would be meeting with the LGBTQ Resource Center and the UNM Social Justice League to talk about students’ issues with Chick-fil-A’s continued presence in the SUB and reaffirmed her commitment to addressing students’ concerns.
“The conversation isn’t over yet, regarding the issues and concerns that were raised about Chick-fil-A,” Muraida said.
In June and July of last year, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy made several public comments against same-sex marriage, saying that those who “have the audacity to define what marriage is about” were “inviting God’s judgment on our nation.” Several media outlets reported that the restaurant, with branches in 38 states in the U.S., has donated millions to anti-gay marriage groups such as the Family Research Council. On July 31, 2012, Chick-fil-A issued a statement saying it was leaving the debate over same-sex marriage to politicians.
On Feb. 20, the ASUNM Senate voted 15-3 in favor of a resolution that urged the University to replace Chick-fil-A with another restaurant. ASUNM passed the resolution after conducting a survey last month which showed that 85 percent of those surveyed were in favor of keeping Chick-fil-A on campus, while 15 percent were in favor of removing it.
The SUB Board met on Feb. 27 and decided to allow Chick-fil-A maintain its spot in the SUB with an 8-3 vote.
