Letter Accepting Spring 1984 Amendment

July 24, 1984

Ms. Melissa Auchard
Chair, ASSU Council of Presidents
Associated Students of Stanford University
Tresidder Memorial Union
Stanford, California 94305

Dear Melissa:
I write to approve the... amendment of the ASSU Constitution which passed in the general election this spring and which [was] subsequently presented to me in your letter of June 15, 1984.

My approval of the amendment is with the following understandings:

1. The amendment states that in the event of a vacancy in the position of Financial Manager, the Council of Presidents' could appoint an Acting Financial Manager to serve until a permanent appointment is made (Article V, Section 8, B-5). I interpret the limitation of allowing this Acting Financial Manager to serve for "no more than 14 days" to mean "without confirmation by the Senate." It may take more than 14 days to advertise the vacancy, receive application, conduct interviews, and otherwise conduct a proper search.

2. The amendment forbids the Financial Manager from accepting any regular outside emplcyment outside the Association unless the Senate consents (Article V, Section 8, B-7). I can only support the intent of this provision, not the method or the language by which the intent is carried out. You have every right to take steps to insure that a Financial Manager performs the job according to fair standards which you set, including the right to know what other major time commitments a candidate has which could affect the ability to do this job. But the ASSU should not restrict what a student does on his or her own time unless there is a conflict of interest. Accordingly, the amendment embodied by Article V, Section 8, B-7 is not accepted. I suggest you consider a new amendment during your next regular election in which you find a way to meet your purposes without undue intervention in the personal activities of employees.

3. I know that the provision requiring an annual audit was not changed (Article V, Section 9-D). I simply want to reiterate that the request in President Pitzer's Letter of Acceptance of March 3, 1970- namely, that an audit committee should be established- still holds. The Committee should include a representative of the Controller's Office, but its exact charge should be defined in a way that makes sense today, given the existence of a Senate Finance Committee.

4. My acceptance of the amendment to Article V, Section 1, is with the understanding that the total amount of the Association Fee set by the Senate may be contingent on the success or failure of one or more Special Fee requests on the ballot in the Spring quarter general election, provided that both any contingent amounts and the non-contingent or base amount are approved by the Senate prior to the election, in accordance with the provisions of this Section.

Sincerely,

Donald Kennedy
President