Photo courtesy of ASSOU
On Tuesday, October 6th, ASSOU held its second official meeting of the fall term. Discussed first in the meeting was the decision to pause the hiring of Director of Finance and Administration and Director of External Relations until grievances against the transparency of ASSOU’s hiring process were discussed with the senate body.
The second item on the agenda was said grievances against the transparency of the hiring process. It was presented that there was bias in the hiring of the Chief Justice, and an official grievance filed in June was discussed at length to provide context against the fairness of the hiring process. Despite some members of the gallery claiming their personal relationship with student body president Sarah Grulikowski affected their chances at being hired for the chief justice position, Rachel Baker advocated strongly for a decision to induct the new chief justice. Baker stated that, “I feel most students would be more concerned about us being able to function as a student government and complete jobs they elected us to do,” and ultimately, the Senate agreed with the decision pending amends.
It was decided that Chief Justice Quinn Youngs would be sworn in as well as Krystyn Kelly, new Director of Governmental Affairs despite the concerns held by some of the senate and members of the gallery. This decision was based on the necessity for the judiciary branch to be made official in order for the student fee to be addressed in a timely manner. It was acknowledged that the issue of bias in the hiring process would need to be addressed at a later date, and the subject was tabled indefinitely. There is no certainty whether or not another official grievance will be filed against the hiring process due to personal bias.
Sarah Grulikowski let out a statement to the Senate denying any bias in the hiring process, citing bylaws and the decision to overturn the grievance. She is “confident that we have conducted an open, transparent, and ethical hiring process”, and claims she “will continue to do so as we seek to immediately fill the positions of Director of Finance and Director of external affairs,” she concludes.
Danielle Mancuso, Director of Student Affairs, then asserted that clubs were underway and meeting regularly. The meeting was then adjourned.
