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Senate
passes bill of rights for students
By
Daniel Linck Savino
Daily Forty-Niner
Assistant Opinion Editor
The
Associated Students Senate has approved
a student bill of rights, designed to enshrine
various rights students may not be aware
of.
Senator
Hironao Okahana and Vice President Erik
Jolliff authored the bill. It has been in
development for over a year, according to
Senator Heidi Chavez, one of several senators
closely involved in the process of designing
it.
"This
is...for students to know what kind of rights
they have," Chavez said. "We're
just hoping that the new president [of the
university] who comes in will see how closely
ASI and the administrators work together."
Jolliff
also noted that the AS has an exceptionally
close working relationship with"President
Robert C. Maxson. The next president, he
said, needs to be aware of that.
"We
had in mind that President Maxson"was
leaving," he said. Maxson's impending
departure was not the main factor in the
bill's structure. It did play a part in
it, though.
Okahana
said the bill is "a message from the
students that we demand this type of right,"
specifically referencing Article III, 1(a)
of the bill.
That
section states, "All students shall
have the right to participate in any and
all levels of university governance."
"We
tried to make this as least restrictive
as possible," Jolliff said. University
guidelines, as well as applicable state
and federal law, take precedence in many
places, he acknowledged.
Issues
ranging from grading to student press are
also addressed in the bill.
Student
publications, the bill states, are designed
"to provide opportunity for the expression
of fellow students' opinions."
Okahana
said that portion was not meant to limit
student media.""It was intended,"
he said, to note "that it's important
for student publications to allow for the
free exchange of opinions."
Another
section of the bill allows all students
to "organize and join associations
to promote common interests." No strictures
were placed on the nature of such associations.
"I
certainly hope that people wouldn't abuse
[that provision]," Okahana said.
The
Senate, which two years ago formally stated
their opposition to the Patriot Act, has
again approached the Act with the "Confidentiality
of Records" section in the bill.
The
first part of the section affirms that access
to records shall be in keeping with university
policy, state and federal law. The next
section, however, requires that "all
students shall be informed of requests to
review the aforementioned records prior
to the disclosure of any records."
Were
a law enforcement agency to use the proper
legal methods, there would be a conflict
with the Patriot Act, which lets them get
information without notifying the person
whose information they are retrieving.
The
bill of rights, however, is superseded in
all cases by university policy, as well
as state and federal law.
In
other business, Stuart Farber, the director
of Student Life and Development, presented
the Senate with a painting he commissioned.
Farber,
who has worked for the Associated Students
for over three decades, donated the original
work, "Morning Sea And Golden Sand,"
at the beginning of the Senate meeting.
After
a brief statement by Farber, the Senate
unanimously voted to accept the piece. Senator
Morgan Wheeler thanked Farber, saying, "Your
continued dedication"to the Associated
Students is unparalleled."
Artist
Joyce Ortner produced the work, which depicts
a coastal sunrise and is similar to a previous
work of hers titled "Sunset Symphony."
Both pieces make prominent use of backlit
waves.
Other
work by Ortner is in the Smithsonian Institute's
permanent collection.
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