The Student Judiciary decided Thursday two vacant student government committee positions will be filled by write-in candidates selected in this fall’s student election.
Kathryn Fifield, chief justice of Student Judiciary, said two Student Services Finance Committee members resigned within the past month, after the deadline of when new candidates can declare to run for available seats.
Under normal circumstances, prospective candidates would declare their candidacy and provide a personal statement to appear on the ballot. Because of UW’s large student body, the personal statement allows voters to know as much as possible about a particular candidate before they cast their vote.
With elections coming up on Oct. 18, Fifield said there was not enough time to add interested candidates’ names to the ballot.
SSFC Chair Matt Manes said he felt the UW student body would have been better served if the Nominations Board appointed suitable committee members instead of having them elected by a write-in vote.
“I personally disagree with the Student Judiciary’s decision, and I have voiced that concern,” Manes said. “However, it wasn’t my call to make.”
Manes said he disagrees with the decision because he feels it will be difficult for interested, knowledgeable students to become elected by write-in.
“You’re going to need a far more concerted effort at this point to get people to let you in than you would have by simply having people look at your candidate matrix and evaluating you based on that,” Manes said.
ASM Chair Brandon Williams disagreed with Manes and said he does not anticipate problems in filling the open seats with capable candidates.
Williams said everyone is responsible for running their own campaign. He added it is not particularly difficult for someone to run as a write in candidate.
Fifield said the Student Judiciary debated the issue for more than a week, ultimately deciding to preserve ASM’s democratic process instead of allowing the Nominations Board to appoint the new members.
“SSFC is not particularly happy with us right now, but I completely stand by the decision the Student Judiciary made,” Fifield said.
According to Williams, SSFC members are either elected or appointed.
Fifield said the two members who resigned were from the elected category and therefore it only makes sense to replace them with other elected members.
“ASM needs to be as open and transparent as possible and for SSFC to have the opportunity to hand-pick the occupiers of these seats when they were put in the constitution to be elected is defying the spirit of the ASM constitution,” Fifeld said.
SSFC is the branch of ASM in charge of allocating over $32 million in segregated fees to various student organizations and departments on campus.
Fifield feels UW students should have a say in deciding who will essentially determine how to spend their tuition dollars.
“I would encourage all students to think about running for these seats and definitely voting,” Fifield said. “The student body should think seriously about who is going to be in charge of their segregated fees.”
