Staff Report
ASUNM will decide whether to issue a vote of confidence in President David Schmidly on Wednesday, one week before faculty members will voice their lack of confidence in the president.
"What we are doing is proposing a resolution that is symbolic, in that it's saying we understand that times are difficult and you (Schmidly) have to make difficult decisions, and we believe in you to make good difficult decisions," said Ashley Fate, president of the undergraduate student government.
While Fate did not frame the proposal, she said she will support it.
"Mario Hernandez is the sponsor of the resolution, but if it passes through Senate, I intend to sign it and make it a joint resolution so that it is supported by both the legislative and the executive branch," she said.
Hernandez was not available for comment on Monday.
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According to Fate, the proposal has already passed ASUNM's Steering and Rules committee, which means that it will hit the Senate floor Wednesday for a vote from the whole group.
Fate said students who have concerns about this proposal and wish to voice an opinion on it should contact an ASUNM senator or attend the meeting Wednesday.
"Every Senate meeting is always open to the public and open for people to come in and make public comments," she said. "That option is available at every meeting, and the opportunity is there and will continue to be there for students to come by and talk to us. Every senator has office hours, so students can come in and schedule an appointment to talk."
Fate said ASUNM's passage of the resolution would start a dialogue on the topic of confidence in Schmidly, which began when faculty members circulated a petition indicating they have no confidence in the president.
"We haven't had open discussion about the state of the University as it is right now, and this is kind of a way to instigate that dialogue so that people start talking and start brainstorming and start thinking about what's going on and what we want to do," she said.
