Legislative Council returns after week off
By next week, UCSU elections will conclude with a set of fresh faces and new office holders. By next year, they may all be working with a set of fresh policies aimed at addressing social issues on campus.
On Thursday, Legislative Council returned from spring break for the second reading of two resolutions that were introduced at its last meeting.
The first, co-authored by junior political science major Dan Omasta, will seek to promote civic engagement and institutionalize voter registration at CU. It was approved without opposition.
According to the resolution, Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson will be “strongly encouraged” to sign the American College and President’s Civic Engagement Commitment, which would break down several barriers in student voter registration.
“Chancellor Peterson has been a great advocate when it comes to social issues,” said Omasta, who is also the chair of CoPIRG. “We hope that he’ll sign on board with this as well.”
Among the stipulations enforced by the American College and President’s Civic Engagement Commitment is the registration of freshman students during orientation, as well as access for voter registration in the residence halls.
Omasta said that in the past five years, student activist groups have been denied these benefits.
“We couldn’t reach a large number of students, and that’s a problem when you’re trying to turn out the youth vote,” he said.
Another part of the resolution is a request for a policy that would allow students to reschedule mandatory academic activities if it happens to fall on the same day as a caucus or election. Omasta said this was a problem earlier in the semester, when a physics test was scheduled at the same time as the Colorado caucuses.
Despite requests from students, the professor refused to offer any alternative times to take the exam.
“I think that CU grants leniency in religious commitments, and it should grant the same leniency to civic commitments,” Omasta said.
The second resolution addressed by Legislative Council, authored by UCSU Sustainability Director Amy Harris, brings support for a higher education energy and climate revolving fund. Like the resolution for civic engagement, it was passed without opposition by Legislative Council.
Harris, a senior environmental studies major, said the revolving fund would be applied toward energy efficiency projects on campus, such as improving lighting, insulation and windows in buildings. It will come from a one-time allocation from the revenue created by a state increase in severance taxes imposed oil and gas companies to pay for extracting.
The revenue stream created by this increase totals approximately $200 million, according to the resolution. Harris said she would be looking to take $25 to $50 million of this to start the fund, with the savings from the efficiency projects paid directly back into it.
“You have this never-ending fund to constantly improve efficiency,” she said. “After you pay back your capital, those savings are yours.”
There are other benefits to having this fund in place, as pointed out by Harris.
“When you’re not spending as much money on your electricity or gas bill, you can use that money to lower tuition, improve programs, offer scholarships, or anything that’s not paying [for energy],” Harris said.
In addition to these resolutions, Legislative Council also unanimously passed a bill that would create a Disabilities Access Task Force. The responsibility of this group will be to research issues of disabilities access on campus, and serve as UCSU’s student representatives on these matters.
Tri-executive Hadley Brown, a senior English major and co-author of the bill, said that disabilities access is a huge issue, and one that will be better addressed with the establishment of the task force.
“I think this will definitely help disabilities access on campus,” she said. “(The task force will be) viewed as a legitimate body that represents the students, and particularly the interests of students with disabilities.”
It took Legislative Council less than one hour on Thursday to approve these three items. They will meet again next week to discuss items that were tabled at this meeting, including a bill that would eliminate the UMC’s practice of charging student groups for the use of tables on its terrace.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer George Plaven at george.plaven@colorado.edu.
