A simmering dispute among student government leaders exploded into the open this week when FUSA Senate President Eddie Muniz vetoed a resolution that would have required him to give a State of the University address on Tuesday.
The FUSA President vetoed Resolution S4705, stating the President must deliver the annual State of the University Address to the student body two weeks from January 26. The address is generally given at the beginning of a President’s term to inform the student body of the goals and role of FUSA once a year.
“I think it is because that there were some things by the Executive Branch that the ball was dropped on,” Muniz told The Mirror concerning his refusal.
After reconsidering, Muniz told the Mirror on Tuesday that he would deliver the talk March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lower Level of the Barone Campus Center.
“I originally did not know the bill was going through the Senate, so I had no idea it was going to pass. I feel that under the terms that the bill was passed, that that wasn’t the best way or the most appropriate way…” Muniz said in response to the veto.
The resolution was passed by a vote of 19 -2 -2 on January 26. After being vetoed, the resolution now reverts back to the Senate’s next meeting, taking place tonight. If it is passed by 4/5 of the Senate, the President is required to deliver a speech at the meeting instead of his preferred date of March 1. Muniz admits he is not prepared to perform if forced to give a speech at the meeting.
Jordan Freeman ’13 and Matthew Morrissey ‘13, co-authors of the resolution, believed the resolution was the most efficient way to demonstrate the issue. In order to solidify productivity in a timely manner, they resorted to composing a resolution. Senate members composed this resolution because, “…there has been unrest within FUSA.”
Asked about the alleged “unrest” in FUSA Muniz stated, “Unrest is more of a subjective term. I get there has been a number of resignations, but I do not know what the unrest is referring to.”
Justin Nowicki ‘13, one of the two Senate members opposed to the resolution, said, “There seems to be a disunity between the branches. A goal also was to have better communication which does not seem to have been addressed by the leadership.”
Freeman concurs with Nowicki by stating, “We’ve seen disunity among members, one of our main goals going into the year and throughout the year has been unity as one cohesive FUSA organization transparency…and we really didn’t see that being implemented. We saw it being talked about, but not actually in practice, so that worried us.”
There have been multiple resignations since the beginning of this year. According to Freeman, these were not the only members who were considering leaving. “That doesn’t set a good tone going on, people not really wanting to do their jobs. It doesn’t motivate other people to do their jobs, which they are under,” he said.
Muniz said his Executive Branch and the Senate had similar goals.
“Although there are two separate branches in FUSA we still are one organization,” he said. “And the end goal is to impact that student body in a positive way in anything and everything that we do by providing programs and services for the student body. And if we all had that same goal it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Muniz.
At the Senate meeting on Feb. 9, the Executive Branch will offer its stance as to why the resolution was vetoed. Muniz is hopeful that more understanding will stem from the resolution and come to a cohesive conclusion.
Leave a Reply