PEC member Sean Estelle — who lobbied for the question to be included — said the survey was meant to gather student reaction to university plans to use $6.7 million to turn CLICS into a lecture hall.

“When students spend an hour of an A.S. meeting lobbying for that question to be put on a referendum, and A.S. can’t fulfill their duty, maybe there needs to be another check and balance,” Estelle said.

Advocate General Courtney Hill said that council approved the survey question to appear on the special election ballot. But when she forwarded this information to A.S. Programmer Johnny Kent, she neglected to specify which ballot the question should be included on, as there will also be a general election ballot in Spring Quarter.

“When the final draft of the ballot came for review, I was so concerned with correctness in the [Division-I] referendum language that the survey completely slipped my mind,” Hill said. “Council’s been taking a lot of heat for it, but it has nothing to do with them; I take personal responsibility.”

Hill is working on sending the survey question out via campus listserv. The question will still be included on the general election ballot in April, but student input will be negligible by then, Estelle said.

“General election voting occurs in early April, while the deadline for construction bids for CLICS is March 13,” Estelle said. “It’s commendable that Courtney is doing her best to react, but I wish that more could be done as student input won’t matter by then.”

A.S. President Alyssa Wing emphasized that the omission was an honest mistake. 

“I sponsored that survey question myself, and wanted it included on the special election ballot,” she said. “I was as shocked as anyone else that it was omitted.”

The special election — which asks students to vote on whether they are willing to pay an additional $495 annually to move to Division I athletics — began Monday, Feb. 27, and will last until Friday, March 9. Students can vote on TritonLink.