University of Colorado Student Union

Legislative Council

 

September 17th, 2007                                                            67LCB8 – ASC Funding

 

Sponsored by:                      Boyce Postma                 Leg. Council President

                                                Hadley Brown                  Tri-Executive

 

Authored by:                         Boyce Postma                  Leg. Council President

                                                Ryan Biehle                     Chief of Staff / ASC Director

                                                Jesse Jensen                   Director of Legislative Affairs

                                                Hadley Brown                   Tri-Executive

 

ASC Funding

 

                                                Bill History

 

In November of 2006, CU Boulder called a meeting of Colorado’s student governments with the purpose of creating an advocacy group to represent student issues at the state level. Soon after we organized the meeting, CU Boulder was approached by the Student Empowerment Training Project (SET), a subsidiary of the Center For Public Interest Research (CFPIR).  We agreed to pay them for consultation. The meeting was then held in January and was a success, though only five schools attended. School representatives at this meeting created a working group to recruit additional member schools and to plan a lobby day. The working group was able to bring in several other schools that helped to organize a successful lobby day at the State Capitol. The efforts of the fledgling ASC gained widespread media attention and ultimately an increase in higher education funding.

 

Following these events, more schools joined a larger working group to write and adopt by-laws, which were approved by CU’s legislative council in June with the passage of 67LCB02. This established CU Boulder as an official member of the ASC. At the next Board meeting, also in June, ASC authorized the Executive Committee to negotiate a contract for hiring staff.

 

Two months ago, at the first official ASC Board meeting of the academic year, the ASC Chair proposed a budget in which $49,056 was to be used for personnel and operations costs.  Approximately three quarters of this budget would be allotted toward hiring personnel. Funding for this budget was comprised of projected donations from several of the member schools, including $10,000 from the UCSU Operations budget that had been earmarked in May.

 

This budget was created primarily by the SET Organizer, Abe Scarr, in coordination with the ASC Chair. The budget was developed such that the personnel costs are split between paying the Executive Director of the Student Empowerment Training Project (acting Executive Director of ASC) for 25% of his time, and a full-time staff member whose purpose is to serve as an organizer of students in Colorado.

 

In conjunction with the budget, SET and the ASC Chair developed a contract which ASC approved and signed at its Board meeting on Saturday, September 15th. This contract states that ASC will pay $41,564.67 to the Center For Public Interest Research (SET’s umbrella organization).  SET is responsible for hiring, firing, providing benefits, and training the organizer.

 

CU Boulder delegates voted against signing this contract. Moreover, of the five filled Executive positions, three Executive Committee members opposed the signing.

 

In May, UCSU put aside $10,000 for the purpose of establishing a strong, statewide voice for students in Colorado, not for a third party to make crucial decisions on our behalf.

 

 

Bill Summary

 

Whereas: In signing this contract, ASC has set a precedent for relying on another organization to develop our organization and the student campaigns we intend to run.

 

Whereas: By signing away much of the Executive responsibility of the Board, an atmosphere has been created whereby students are given the opportunity to be minimally engaged in the decision-making process.

 

Whereas: Signing a contract with an outside organization allows for a permanence that is not afforded students due to frequent turnover. This places SET in a position of undue influence over future direction of the board.

 

Whereas: ASC has essentially, even if temporarily, signed away the role of the Executive Director to SET, who has sole hiring and firing power over the organizer.

 

Whereas: The contract was developed by the interested party (SET), and was not negotiated by lawyers representing ASC. This, in our view, is negligent considering the potential legal ramifications of such a contract.

 

Whereas: No alternatives to this contract have been proposed to the ASC Board, setting a precedent of narrow decision-making processes.

 

Whereas: ASC will be a more sustainable organization if it responsibly develops its own infrastructure for hiring employees.

 

 

THEREFORE BE IT ENACTED:

 

Section 1: This bill retracts the earmark of $10,000 until ASC follows through with its original mission of being a state-wide student government of, by and for students.

 

Section 2: Upon passage of this bill, ASC will be notified of UCSU’s decision to withdraw its earmark.

 

Section 3: This bill shall take effect upon passage by the Legislative Council and upon either obtaining the signatures of two Tri-Executives or the elapse of six days without action by the Tri-Executives.

 

 

Vote Count

 

9/27/02                                   Passed                                  12-4-2

10/4/07                                   Passed                                  14-2-1

 

 

________________________                                    _______________________

Boyce Postma                                                                Hadley Brown

Legislative Council President                                     Tri-Executive

 

 

 

 

_______________________                                      _______________________

Charles Gilford III                                                           Sara Davine

Tri-Executive                                                                   Tri-Executive