Ink by the Barrel
Mark Twain once said, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys their ink by the barrel.” Unfortunately, this is a lesson the ASUO Senate has not taken to heart. Editor-in-Chief of the ODE Laura Powers has already filed a spat of grievances, against the Senate for violating Oregon Public Meeting Law, and today she added another to the list.
The Senate Over-Realized Committee held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming requests. This was illegal because (a) it was only announced five hours beforehand, instead of the required 24, and (b) the meeting included a non-binding, up-down vote on the requests. This was done in the name of “consensus building.”
When the Con Court prohibited the Senate “from implementing any rule, policy or resolution currently under review,” they went ahead and did it anyways. Likewise, when Senate President Athan Papailiou told senators not to bring up the clandestine meeting, Nate Gulley went ahead and did it anyways.
In response, Powers issued a broadside against the Senate in today’s ‘Ol Dirty, calling them out for blatantly disregarding OPML. Read excerpts from it, as well as a douchebaggy email from Nate Gulley, after the jump.
Late notice of one meeting might not be the end of the world. Nevertheless, the meeting that there is no record of and was held outside of all normal rules decided the fate of three-quarters of a million dollars of student fees. Students deserved to have that meeting in the open, with proper notice so they could plan on attending to defend and discuss their projects. Instead of operating in good faith, the committee made a mockery of the system to avoid having to follow the law. As cute as it is that they really thought they could just declare it was no longer a public meeting, the law still applied.
[…]
Although committee members say they acted in the best interest of the student body, there is no doubt that their actions reflect only the lazy desire to not have to reschedule their meeting. It is unfortunate that they allowed such a stain to mar the process, which otherwise went remarkably well and showcased the best in all senators who took part.
Powers’ opinion piece dovetails nicely with the news story on Wednesday’s meeting, which includes several moments of Nate Gulley douchebaggery.
[Papailiou] recommended that senators refrain from talking about the consensus decisions made at the disputed meeting.
Gulley, who had mentioned the decisions reached by the committee several times, said he was referring to conversations between committee members during a longer period of time and not only during Tuesday’s meeting. Gulley then proceeded to introduce ASUO President-elect Sam Dotters-Katz’ 24-hour library proposal as “one of the proposals that took considerable discussion” at Tuesday’s meeting and was one committee members “couldn’t come to a consensus on.
Gulley also sent off this email to the Senate and Con Court, further cementing his legacy as a grade-A twat:
Honorable Members of the Consitution Court:
Please don’t stop there. Every day Senators hold clandestine and otherwise unlawful meetings. Action must be taken!
Just today, I commented on what a nice shirt Senator Patrick Boye was wearing. Not five minutes later, I asked Senator Noor Rajabzadeh if she was done using an office computer. As you well know, these gatherings of two (or more) Senators constitute public meetings under Oregon law and are subject to proper proceedings. The swelling tide of these “flagrant violations” must be stemmed. The student body of the University of Oregon deserves no less.
Please do not restrict yourselves in your decision. Please set a precedent that will resound in far reaches of Suite 4. Please find all Senators, especially Lee Warnecke and I (who sent each other a series of blatantly illegal text messages regarding the Cavs-Celtics game on Monday) in dereliction of our duties. And be firm in your punishment. A proverbial “slap on the wrist” is not sufficient. I suggest you remove every Senator from office for these egregious miscarriages of justice. Remember: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I know you will do what is right…for all students…not just those selfish politicos who spend four and half selfish hours selfishly deliberating over selfish “campus improvement” proposals.
Good night and good luck,
Nathan Clark Gulley
Edward R. Murrow was cooler than you’ll ever be, Nate. Stop copping his phrases.
