Davidson to Senate: Get out the vote

Davidson said he called the special session to remind senators that as a group, they support the student body's right to decide on the fee and need to spur interest in it.

"We approved it and need to stand by that document as an organization," he said. "I want to make sure ASUA is not causing confusion."

Students will vote tomorrow and Wednesday on the Memorial Student Union referendum, which would assess students $40 per semester to fund $31.5 million of $70 million in renovations to the building. The Senate approved the referendum's final language Nov. 5.

"We're not saying you have to vote yes or you have to vote no, but we need to get the message out that you need to vote," Davidson said. "It would be sad to win or lose with only 500 votes."

Davidson also pointed out that ASUA had not spent any money advocating a "yes" vote.

"There is no yes side or no side for ASUA. There is just the referendum."

Though Davidson tried to clarify ASUA's position, some senators remained confused about their role in supporting the referendum.

"We passed a resolution that supported the referendum, which some interpreted as supporting a fee. Now we're saying we just support a referendum," said Sen. Summer Katzenbach. "I think it's still pretty unclear what our opinion is."

Davidson, who wrote the resolution, had previously told the Arizona Daily Wildcat that the resolution did, in fact, support a yes vote.

"This resolution supports completion of the Union project and after extensive research, we have found that the best way to do that is with a fee," Davidson said Oct. 24.

Katzenbach and Sen. Aaron Young will be on today's KAMP forum panel, which will be discussing the referendum.

In addition to the referendum discussion, senators moved to table an action that would revoke funding for the men's water polo club team. Executive Vice President Casey Cuny put the item on the agenda at the request of Mary O'Mahoney, Student Recreation Center program coordinator. Cuny said the players faced an alleged code of conduct violation, but recommended the Senate not take action until the Dean of Students' office finished its review and reached a disciplinary decision.

"ASUA shouldn't be able to determine if there was a violation," Cuny said.