The Associated Students of Oregon State University Senate discussed a new bill pertaining to succession in the Student Fee Committee Wednesday in the Student Experience Center.
The senators discussed a new bill: SB-85.02 “SFC Chair Succession Statutes.”
According to Provisional ASOSU President Masha Mogylevsky, under the provisions of the bill, the vice chair of the SFC will be able to act as an interim chair until the time a new chair is elected.
The bill also calls for a special election within 90 days of the effective vacancy of the chair position, then goes on to clarify definitions of “vacancy.”
The SFC has been without a chair since the former Chair Dylan Perfect was removed during the summer.
The second half of the bill, according to Mogylevsky, will be discarded after a new chair is elected and is there to “provide temporary provisions for what is going on,” while the first half will remain in the student government’s statutes.
Mogylevsky said the bill was written after hearing feedback from SFC members about what they would want to happen in finding a new chair.
According to SFC Vice Chair Saegis Abbott, the committee is “pretty happy” with the bill.
There was some discussion between the Senators about why there was to be an election in the first place and whether the current Vice Chair should just take over the position, as is what happened recently with the removal of Kayla Ramirez as ASOSU president.
Those in favor of an election cited that it was SFC’s wish to hold an election, as they seek democratic legitimacy, transparency, trust and public accountability.
“I think that there’s already low faith in ASOSU,” Mogylevsky said. “Especially with people feeling like their votes are not really going to do anything; like they’re just being discarded.”
Mogylevsky said they believed that the most equitable way forward — and the best way to build back trust — would be through a democratic election.
There was also some confusion as to whether or not ASOSU could even pass legislation, as their new constitution has not been ratified.
However, ASOSU Senate President Pro Tempore Dawson Yang and Mogylevsky clarified that the student government does, in fact, have a ratified constitution, dating back to 2024, so they are allowed to pass legislation while they work to ratify their new constitution.
Yang reminded the Senate that there would be no voting on the Bill this week.
Salem Solomon was confirmed as the new Access and Health coordinator.
Solomon said their passion for the role stems from their lived experience as a disabled student and their academic focus on health equity.
“I believe that true accessibility moves beyond equality to create an environment where every student has the support they need to thrive,” Solomon said. “I’ve seen firsthand how policy and advocacy can enact direct, meaningful change for students, and I am eager to bring that perspective, my organizational skills and my collaborative spirit to the role of Accessibility and Health coordinator.”
In other business discussed were committee reports, where Senate committees bring forward updates regarding their group goals.
Senator Karlapati reported the Campus Improvement Committee elected Senator David Calzada-Martinez as their new vice chair. Karlapati also said the committee will be holding weekly meetings, though they didn’t specify when.
The Budget Committee said they are still scheduling their first meeting and they are trying to figure out when to meet.
A representative from the Outreach Committee said their next meeting is at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 16, at which time they will discuss liaison positions and outreach goals.
Yang said the Student Government Committee is currently without a chair, as the former Chair Efimya Kuzmin had to step down after accepting their new position as ASOSU policy director.
Yang said the committee will elect a new chair at their next meeting, which he said he would try to set up on Microsoft Teams soon. Yang said the committee would also coordinate efforts to edit bill SB-85.01.
