New A.S. President Jeremy Paul Gallagher and the new A.S. Council took office on April 30, following the 2002-03 council’s final meeting.
Guardian
Vice President Internal Jenn Pae, Vice President Finance Eric Webster, Commissioner of Athletics Jordan Cross, Commissioner of Student Services Kelly Vasant and Commissioner of Enterprise Operations Jeremy Cogan were the only other new officers to take office until the end of the current term, which remains partially incomplete due to the A.S. Election Committee’s disqualification of all candidates running on the Students First! slate.
Vacancies in the positions of vice president external and commissioners of student advocacy, programming, academic affairs, diversity affairs and communications were temporarily filled with the interim appointments of incumbent officers at the meeting.
Permanent appointments will be made upon Gallagher’s recommendation and council approval during eighth week, according to Gallagher. Applications for the vacant positions are due May 9.
“”My main concern is the unfilled commissioner and vice president external positions,”” Gallagher said.
Gallagher invited all senators, cabinet members and ex-officios to sit in on appointee interviews.
“”I want as many people who can be involved,”” Gallagher said. “”I really want all of council to have a say in deciding who their commissioners and vice president are.””
Some have questioned the constitutionality of potentially appointing disqualified candidates to office. The A.S. Constitution stipulates that persons who have been “”removed from office”” are ineligible to fill a vacancy in the same office during the term in which they were removed.
“”My decision is to allow any individual to apply and have the opportunity to be appointed,”” Gallagher stated in his report to council. “”It is my interpretation [of the Constitution] that any person who was disqualified from the election was not ‘removed from office,’ because she or he was never in office.””
Gallagher said that he consulted the Judicial Board on the matter and that it agreed with his interpretation.
Appointments will also be made for junior senators for John Muir College, Revelle College, Thurgood Marshall College and Earl Warren College, and a sophomore senator for Warren.
Vice President Finance Eric Webster, an independent candidate during elections, expressed excitement at taking office and said that his first commission will be Student Organization Funding Advisory Board allocations. Webster, who won only 22 percent of the popular vote and took office as a result of Students First! candidate Harish Nandagopal’s disqualification, said that he expected questions of his office’s legitimacy.
“”It’s a fair criticism,”” Webster said. “”What happened in the elections was really ugly, [but] under the circumstances, the actions taken were appropriate.””
Commissioner of Athletics Jordan Cross, an independent candidate, said that he is ready to “”hit the ground running”” and will be working on garnering athletes’ support of the upcoming University Centers expansion fee referendum and getting more people involved with Triton Tide, initially.
Commissioner of Enterprise Operations Jeremy Cogan said that he plans on creating a good foundation for his newly autonomous office. Cogan is currently working on securing campus approval for an A.S. ropes course that would generate funds for Associated Students.
Gallagher, who ran on the Unity slate and would have lost the election by 64 votes to Students First! presidential candidate Kevin Shawn Hsu, had he not been disqualified, said that election events would have an effect on the new council.
