Last week's firings of three student government officials who are in charge of drafting the UA student tuition proposal have stalled a historic effort to produce a proposal that both graduate and undergraduate students can agree on.
Arizona Students' Association directors Fernando Ascencio, Andrew Record and Christopher Dang were scheduled to meet Jan. 10 with the Graduate and Professional Student Council as they do every week, but were fired that morning by Associated Students of the University of Arizona president Cade Bernsen.
A fourth ASA member, Sam Chang, was not fired but was barred from attending the GPSC meeting by Bernsen, said GPSC vice president of external affairs Paul Thorn.
"Sam Chang was specifically told not to go," Thorn said.
Chang did not return phone calls left by the Arizona Daily Wildcat.
Bernsen said he fired the appointed officials because he has evidence that they lied and disrupted student government business. The officials continued their work on Friday, however, and Bernsen will remain on leave this week until the validity of the firings can be determined.
Last spring, when Bernsen appointed Chang to ASA after Bernsen took office, Chang became responsible for representing graduate students on ASA.
The loss of three of ASA's five members and the barring of a fourth member from attending meetings has stalled the effort to build consensus on a tuition proposal, Thorn said.
Bernsen is the fifth member of ASA because he is ASUA president. Bernsen declined to comment for this story, saying he was focused on getting ASUA back on track.
In the past, the student tuition proposal has been submitted by ASA without significant input from ASUA or GPSC, said Thorn.
"Last year, ASA made a proposal without grad student input," Thorn said.
Even though the officials were reinstated to their positions two days after being fired, the meeting has not been re-scheduled, Thorn said.
Thorn said GPSC met with several ASUA senators informally, but there were no substantive discussions.
Thorn said he also briefly discussed the subject with Bernsen last week, and while Bernsen said he wanted to work with GPSC on the proposal, he gave no specifics.
Members from ASA said that while last week's firings have delayed the meetings, they are confident they will reach a tuition proposal in the few weeks, after Likins is expected to release his tuition proposal.
Traditionally, a student proposal is released by ASA after the university president offers his. Last year, the Arizona Board of Regents used its own proposal and did not agree to either the students' or president's proposals.
"(The dismissals) set us back a week," Dang said. "It won't dampen (the effort) too much."
Dang said joint consultation from ASUA and GPSC is certainly in the best interests of the students, and ASA will meet with both groups in the near future.
Ascencio said the delay will require ASA to perform more work in less time but said the main effort, to have one solid proposal agreed upon by the respective student bodies, has not diminished.
"The spirit is still there to do the best job we can do," Ascencio said.
While a joint student proposal on tuition is important, GPSC president Elaine Ulrich said GPSC is also working on other ways to affect the proposed budget.
Ulrich serves on several university committees and has recently met with President Peter Likins to discuss issues facing graduate students. She will meet this semester with other members of the President's cabinet to communicate the needs of graduate students, hoping to shape their budget recommendations.