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ASUA Senate puts off vote on Bear Down Camp director

Senate approval for the directorship of next semester's Bear Down Camp was held off for one week so that minor amendments could be made to both the camp's and ASUA by-laws.

"The Senate is making a lot of decisions right now, which should be made at a time where Tom (Bear Down Camp Director Tom Reiner) and the administrative vice president may want to be present," said Ben Graff, executive vice president.

Communication sophomore Meighan Burke and undecided sophomore Luaral Perry will await approval for their co-chair position of Bear Down Camp next week.

The Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate decided to review the by-laws that relate to the camp.

According to the ASUA by-laws, student clubs and organizations can have one director or president. Bear Down Camp had voted both Perry and Burke for co-chair position.

Current Bear Down Camp Director Tom Reiner said the directorship would be better served with two people making the decisions.

"I think from just my experience running the program, it was a lot of work. Since it's a young program, we are still making changes because we don't know how it will work best," he said. "I feel like the position itself entails a lot of work on top of the academic responsibility."

Despite the week layoff, Reiner said he understands the Senate's difficulty in passing the item in its present form.

"It's still a young program and it's still being worked and reworked," he said.

Graff assured the future directors that the situation is not serious, and that it will be cleared up with a few changes to the by-laws.

"Although I cannot speak for the entire Senate, it had nothing to do with my confidence in your abilities." he said. "It's just a technicality."

Later, Graff said both ASUA and Bear Down Camp will have the situation solved by the next Senate meeting.

"We can't vote against our own by-laws," he said. "It should be done on Tuesday night."

Burke and Perry said they are looking forward to running the camp.

"I was a freshman camper and a counselor my sophomore year," Burke said. "(I ran for director) because I know how it felt to be a freshman, especially coming from a small out-of-state town. It gave me a base to stand and to not be scared."

Perry said the directorship was an opportunity to help other UA students.

"Coming into this semester, I learned so much.," she said. "I want to give that back to the freshmen."