Petition fails to block funding for SEEdS for Haiti trip

Jae Park
ASCLU Executive Recorder

The “Student Fees Belong on CLU” Petition fell short of 289 signatures it needed to block ASCLUG Senate’s legislation to allocate $8,100 to SEEdS for Haiti service trip.

Gregg Salazar, a senior Senator of ASCLUG, began a petition following the Senate meeting on Nov. 4 when Senate approved to allocate $8,100 of student fees to SEEdS (Students for Enlightenment and the Education of Sustainability) for Haiti service trip. Ryan Glatt, the president of SEEdS for Haiti club, is organizing the trip to help Haiti recover from the 2010 earthquake disaster. Twenty students will attend the three-week service trip in late December of this year.

The petition on Facebook had until this past Monday at the beginning of the Senate meeting at 5:20 pm on Nov. 11 to gather 289 signatures. Because the petition fell short of 289 signatures, $8,100 will indeed be allocated to the SEEdS for Haiti service trip.

On Wednesday following the Senate meeting on Nov. 4, Salazar, concerned that student fees should be given back and spent on the CLU students on the CLU campus, tried to gather support from select Senators to overturn the allocation. Upon presentation of signatures of 1/3 of Senators within 48 hours of the initial passage, all legislations are subject to be overturned by Programs Board who votes whether the allocation is intended to be used for a minimum of three years, according to the ASCLU Constitution. Salazar did not gather the signatures of 1/3 of Senators within the 48-hour time frame.

On Friday of that same week, Beau Pellowski, the ASCLU Controller who oversees all financial activities of ASCLUG, emailed Senate expressing concerns that over half of the entire Senate budget was used when it was not even half way through the academic year. Pellowski also noted in the email that almost $22,000 had been allocated on service trips including the SEEdS for Haiti trip. The other $13,000 was already allocated to the Community Service Center’s international service trip to Costa Rica slated in spring break during spring semester.

Shortly after the email was sent, Salazar met with Maxi Jones, the ASCLU Senate Director. Jones informed Salazar that if he would like to deny allocation to SEEdS for Haiti service trip, the only option would be via a referendum. Titled “Student Fees Belong on CLU,” an online petition on Facebook was started by Salazar later that evening.

A referendum requires a petition of 10 percent of the undergraduate students within one week of the passage of the legislation, and the legislation becomes suspended from enactment, according to the ASCLU Constitution. If the petition receives 10 percent of the undergraduate students, the student body will be given the opportunity to approve or reject the legislation. Currently, 2,888 undergraduate students are enrolled at CLU. A petition of 289 students was required.

Any questions or comments should be directed to Andre Andoyan, the ASCLU President. Andoyan can be reached at asclupres@callutheran.edu.