Following a conversation with President David Hodge Monday, representatives from Students for Staff presented a bill to Associated Student Government (ASG) Tuesday night to recommend that members of Classified Personnel Advisory Committee (CPAC) be democratically elected.
Justin Katko and John Tuzcu of Students for Staff (SFS) collaborated with ASG senator Anne Towne to write the legislation, which saw an hour's worth of amendments and debate before eventually being tabled.
Ultimately, many ASG senators voiced that while they agreed with the intent of the bill, they felt it was worded too strongly to present to university senate or CPAC.
"I don't think it is our place to tell another organization to amend their bylaws," said junior Laura Walaszek, the president's chief of staff. "It makes us a less credible organization."
Currently, members of CPAC have to be nominated. They can either nominate themselves or be nominated by a peer. They then are reviewed by members of the current committee and eventually chosen by Miami's president.
Katko and Tuzco said that the current method of selection in CPAC should be changed to give staff members a larger say in the representatives on their own committee.
Yet CPAC, which was established to advise the administration and human resources on matters relating to classified staff members, is a presidential committee and thus members must be chosen by the president and not elected.
Student Body President Brian Alexander said that he felt there needed to be more debate on the issue before a bill gets passed.
"This issue has a long history," said Alexander, mentioning the strike three years ago over the issue of staff wages. "It is dangerous to the credibility of ASG before we hear from all of the sides in the debate."
Despite the fact that the bill was tabled, members of senate who also serve in university senate made it clear that they were willing to bring the issue in front of university senate for debate.
Katko said that he hoped in the very least that the bill would spur efforts to educate students about the issues behind how CPAC members are currently selected.
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"Most students don't know about this situation," Katko said. "You have the opportunity to do something historic."
Alexander said that through the current method of selection, the committee seeks a wide variety of nominated candidates representing different geographic locations and different divisions.
Dave Yousavich, a first-year senator in ASG, said that he feels the issue will be fairly controversial if presented to university senate. He compared this bill to the discussion in Monday's university senate meeting regarding the staff health care plans and said that the conversation will most likely be very complex.
One senator also suggested that the debate start with more special interest student organizations such as Students for Staff or Students for Peace and Justice, rather than ASG.
Now that the bill has been tabled, it is up to ASG senators who serve in university senate to present the topic at a meeting. At that point, university senate can decide whether to hear debate on the issue.
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