Yesterday’s University Senate meeting was abruptly cut short due to a technicality before senators had the chance to vote on the procedure to determine where and how buildings will be chosen for future construction projects.
In an unusually short meeting, university senators debated a proposal concerning site selection at the university, which became an issue after students and faculty fought an administration decision to bulldoze the Wooded Hillock in order to accomodate facilities displaced by the East Campus development.
The bill recommended the committee that reviews design aspects of new buildings and developments be altered to take environmental and other concerns into consideration. Vice President for Administrative Ann Wylie proposed an amendment that would install a second committee rather than change the original — the Architectural Design Standards Board. The amendment was passed but proved to be highly controversial.
Some senators argued it fundamentally changed the spirit of the original recommendation.
Undergraduate senator Jonathan Sachs, knowing that not enough senators were present to vote on the proposal, called for a count of the members left at the meeting before the body could move to vote on the entire proposal, amendments included.
To vote, 68 senators were needed and only a handful fewer were present. Once it was determined not enough senators were in attendance, the meeting was adjourned 45 minutes early.
“I didn’t think the amendment maintained the original purpose of the recommendation,” Sachs said. “It further clouded an already clouded system.”
Wylie said she proposed the amendment to protect the Architectural Design Standards Board, which deals specifically with the design of a building and starts its review process long after a site is chosen. She noted the recommendation made by the committee would completely change the function and purpose of a long-standing, successful committee. The amendment that was eventually passed instead suggested a separate and independent Facilities Review Committee be appointed to deal specifically with site selection, instead of altering the architectural board.
The original proposal was issued by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Site Selection Processes, which was commissioned last semester after the university decided to bulldoze the Wooded Hillock area for East Campus construction. Following protests from students, faculty and staff, who urged the forest be saved, the senate committee was charged with examining how environmental aspects are considered when building sites are chosen.
“This amendment has nothing to do with the Wooded Hillock,” Wylie said. “In fact, if the committee structure this amendment proposes had been in place, it would have addressed all criticism faced in the selection process of the Wooded Hillock. [The proposed committee] has the same configuration and responsibilities as recommended in this report; it just sets up an independent committee to examine specific issues surrounding site selection.”
Wylie’s proposal was passed in a 39-24 vote.
But Sachs and other senators argued that adding another committee would further muddle an already complicated process, and the original intent of the site selection committee was to preserve transparency and openness.
“The report was excellent and added a lot of clarity to a process which is extremely confusing and hard to deal with,” Sachs said, noting that Wylie’s amendment would call for an eighth committee in the facilities review process. “Adding an eighth committee doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me — it just adds to the confusion. The truth is this process is impossible to navigate. The campus community is in the dark on a vast majority of what this process does. I really appreciate the recommendation of the committee that says there should be more openness and transparency in this process.”
Another amendment to add the Department of Environmental Safety on the independent review committee, which was proposed by biochemistry professor Jason Kahn, also passed.
To end debate on the proposal — amendments included — the senate needed a two-thirds majority, or 41 votes. But only 39 voted in favor of a motion to end discussion.
Once it became clear that there wouldn’t be a vote on the bill, Sachs jogged down the aisle and formally called quorum, officially ending the senate meeting after it was determined not enough senators were present.
Marvin Breslow, senate parliamentarian, said all the amendments passed before the meeting was adjourned will still be included when the entire recommendation is voted on next Thursday.
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