The AS Board poses on Friday, Oct. 5. Ella Banken//AS Review
By Soleil de Zwart
Disclaimer: Erasmus Baxter is helping to create the lawsuit mentioned in this article from his standing as a student and not as the EIC of this publication. All edits to this story were made by the assistant editor.
Lawsuit Against Western
Journalism students Julia Furukawa and Erasmus Baxter presented their plans for a lawsuit against Western. Furukawa and Baxter met with AS Board members about potential action against Western for a breach in law.
Western is withholding the names of students found responsible for sexual misconduct, Furukawa said.
The Public Records office has been redacting information concerning perpetrators of sexual misconduct.
According to Furukawa, administration said they were nervous giving the names to a student publication, thinking that if the publication had possession of the records then they would be able to find out the name of the survivor.
“Our goal is to improve transparency between the administration and the Western student body,” Furukawa said.
To this date they have not received the records that they requested without the redacted information. They will be hearing back by Nov. 2.
Western is breaking the law by not releasing the names of the accused, Baxter said.
Administration is turning to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, which specifies that consent has to be given by the student to give out their name. However, FERPA allows the release of student names in specific situations, such as violent acts and sexual misconduct, Baxter said.
Baxter and Furukawa met with Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services Dr. Melynda Huskey to discuss transparency.
They are asking for the names of the perpetrators to be released, as well as the length of their suspension and the cases in which they were found responsible. This allows for transparency in the system.
That way, people aren’t being discriminated against, Baxter said.
Baxter found a lawyer in Seattle who agreed to take their case on a contingent fee. If they take Western to court, it could take up to three years.
There are ways for the university to ensure that when they release the perpetrator’s name, readers wouldn’t be able to track down the survivor. Every public record released by Western through the public records office goes through a redaction process.
The Public Records Office can redact any information that identifies the survivor, Baxter said.
Only if you had immediate knowledge of the situation and know the identity of the person who was involved, would reading the perpetrator’s name give you the survivor’s name. If you were a reasonable random student on campus you wouldn’t have any way of knowing, Baxter said.
Baxter serves on the Student Publications Council. When faced with a controversial story, the reporters may consult with Journalism Professor Carolyn Nielsen, as well as speaking with advisors, Furukawa said.
Furukawa and Baxter will return to the AS Board when they have more information on their case. If their new public records request gets denied, they will sue Western.
Student Senate
The new election code will expire after the student senate elections
The senate election code can be changed and passed for next year at a later time. It is best to allow everyone to sign everyone’s form, Alec Willis, elections coordinator, said.
The election code ends Dec. 14.
Student senate candidates can run attached to a college or as a pre major. If a student is undeclared, they can run as a student at large, Levi Eckman, VP for academic affairs, said.
Any student who contributes to the Student and Activities fee and takes a minimum of six credits as an undergraduate or four as a graduate can run as a candidate.
Elections Board
If the Elections Board chair position is not filled, the Representation and Engagement Programs director shall serve as the elections board chair, according to the Elections Board document.
The REP director would still have to stay under 19 hours while they are an AS employee and occupy both positions, Henry Pollet, legislative liaison, said.
The REP director would have to cut out hours from their position and substitute in those available hours to the chair position. Both jobs together would have to add up to 19 hours or less per week, according to Eric Alexander, associate dean of student engagement.
Music at the Rec Center
Adam Leonard sent an email to Eckman concerning the music selection played in the Wade King Recreation Center. A student spoke to Eckman, saying that the rec center told them they couldn’t play hip-hop music in the lifting room because it was offensive.
“Recently we have received feedback about misogynistic lyrics and inappropriate language in some of our music that have made some of the students uncomfortable and unwelcome,” Leonard said, in his email to Eckman.
When older folks in the community go to the lifting room to work out, the staff don’t play it so they don’t offend them, Natasha Hessami, VP for governmental affairs said.
Registrar Fees
Genaro Meza, VP for business and operations, met with Registrar David Brunnemmer concerning the extra fees students have to pay for degree evaluations and commencement. Meza is working with administration to ask the Board of Trustees for the $600,000 needed to cover student costs.
If the Board tries to help students, it disables the registrar’s office. It’s complicated, Meza said.
Millka Solomon, AS president, raised the issue of tuition going up for the whole student body to cover the cost of cutting out these fees.
There could be a new general fee that would cover the fees on next year’s tuition, but the Board of Trustees already decided to raise tuition by 2.1% this year, which was their max, Pollet said.
Meza and the registrar’s office will be collaborating in this role and they will be working on coordinating between the Associated Students and the registrar’s office.
Smoke Free Initiative
There was a 16% turnout to the vote for last year’s Smoke Free Initiative, according to Anne Lee, VP of student life. Sue Sullivan, director of environmental health and safety, will be releasing a student and staff survey to gage people’s perspective of the Smoke Free Initiative, Lee, said.
The survey will be concerning whether or not the staff and student body want to transition Western’s campus to a complete ban on smoking or to restructure the on-campus smoking areas.
The survey will also be sent to the Health and Safety Committee to look over before it’s sent out, Lee said.
Where’s the beef?
Solomon received an email from the Washington State Beef Commission. Someone had sent WABEEF a picture of a poster on campus about the unsustainability of beef and they wanted it removed.
If any student knows where the beef poster is on campus, the AS Board would like to know.
Update made on 11/6: In the section labeled “Lawsuit Against Western”, Erasmus Baxter and Julia Furukawa did not meet with President Sabah Randhawa. In the same section, there is no policy in place to talk with Carolyn Nielsen regarding controversial stories. However, she is a resource for hard stories.