ASUA’s election plans gain steam as changes to the elections code are slated to make running for office easier and more accessible for students.
At last week’s meeting, Associated Students of the University of Arizona President Emily Fritze noted the Graduate and Professional Student Council as well as Faculty Senate’s willingness to combine elections into one week.
In a previous interview with the Daily Wildcat, ASUA Elections Commissioner Michael Colletti noted his emphasis on the period of intent, where prospective students looking to run for an elected position in ASUA can get interested without officially applying.
Along with this period of intent, several other revisions must be approved by the senate, as per 1-5.02 of the 2010 ASUA Elections Code.
Those include deleting the candidate deposit; lowering the amount of signatures required for candidacy, which top 500 for ASUA president; implementing the cleanup crew after polling closes and before the results show; allowing multiple names on campaign materials and the formation of teams; adding Referendum regulations; and revising the candidate write-in process.
ASUA plans to fund financial aid workshop fliers, totaling $85.47, which Sen. Mary Myles has been working toward with the help of financial aid director John Nametz.
Two of the six requests for the consent board were stricken. Camp Wildcat’s request was stricken from the agenda to allow the club time to submit a new request at a later date. The request from the Stocks and Securities Investments Club was stricken so the club could submit a slightly altered request to include more items that the board could fund as opposed to only funding them for precedence items.
Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law fraternity received almost all of its request for funds, snagging more than $2,000 for a conference in Alexandria, Va., in November. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers received full funding for its Chem-E Car Competition in the spring. Damascus Road, a religious club, gained almost full funding for their free water tent on the mall. The board voted unanimously on all requests except for one abstaining cast in the funding request for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
CatPAC: Cats for Israel, is “”a pro-Israel student organization that seeks to promote love and appreciation for Israel through campus activities,”” according to Hillel’s “”Israel on campus”” website. Their mission is to provide information regarding Middle Eastern affairs to UA students and they will be presenting on the divestment movement, which gained traction last year with a petition against UA’s relationship with Motorola topping 50 students and faculty, to the senate.
The UA’s graduate career services fair is also making a presentation to the senate.