Senators ax union motion

Senator junior Josh Kappel proposed an independent council at Student Senate's meeting Sunday that capped two hours of continuous debate.

A divided Senate voted to reject a motion to establish an independent council that would allow students to vote on by-laws admitting the University to Missouri Students United!, a student union recently formed by two students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The motion, which also called for a measure on the April 18 to 19 Senate election ballot to institute a $2 per student per semester fee, fell one vote shy of the two-thirds majority needed.

Kappel, who is listed on United!'s Web site as the union's organizer at Truman, said students should have the right to vote to unionize.

"In order for an organization to claim power in numbers, it has to have numbers," Kappel said.

Senate devolved into definitive factions on the measure.

Kappel, along with senators senior Tim Gerhart and senior Stephen Huss, received support from incoming senator freshman Tracey Blasingame, external affairs chairwoman sophomore Mindy Maness and senator sophomore Andy Rudolph.

Campus diversity chairman senior Matt Seibert joined the voting bloc of senior senator senior Robert Kelchen, technology chairman senior Ashley Young and senators senior Taylor Burks, sophomore Daniel Poindexter and freshman Sarah Schmidt in opposing the motion.

"I'm a veteran of the old SAM wars," Seibert said, referring to the failed Student Association of Missouri, from which students voted to withdraw in 2004. "This is a bad idea. I don't want to go down this road again. SAM didn't work, [and] this wouldn't either."

Seibert said students at the University of Missouri-Rolla voted to table the idea indefinitely. UMR's Student Council overwhelmingly voted to do so Feb. 7, according to its Web site.

Kappel said United!'s structure differs from SAM.

"SAM was an organization that represented students," Kappel said. "Missouri Students United! is students. It's nothing really like SAM."

Kelchen attempted to postpone the motion indefinitely but withdrew his motion, then failed to adjourn the meeting, also falling shy by one vote. The close votes prompted senators to call division, resulting in speaker junior Joe VanAmburg to call for a show of hands.

Treasurer junior Cory Kessler said that although he voted to keep discussion open, he opposes joining the union.

"I was looking at their Web site yesterday and found a lot of contradictions," Kessler said. "I feel more comfortable seeing how this will work out. It seems that a lot of schools are having reservations."

President junior Mark Kirtland, elected as a Bulldog party member last year, voiced concern about the organization's structure.

"According to the by-laws that don't exist, anyone can join," Kirtland said. "These by-laws are not binding. We need time to discuss this. Two weeks is not enough."

Kirtland and Kessler both said they oppose the fee structure. Schools with less than 12,000 students would pay a fee of $2 per student per semester while schools with more than 12,000 would pay twice as much, according to United!'s Web site.

"If they're claiming to be the ultimate democracy, this isn't showing it," Kessler said. "A bigger school that's giving twice as much, don't you think they're going to have a lot more weight? Schools should pay the same."

Kappel said the by-laws are up to students to approve before meeting at an upcoming congress in August.

Academic affairs chairwoman junior Angela Crawford left before the discussion began because of an out-of-town commitment.

Crawford, who served as SAM's president before the organization folded in February 2005, said Tuesday that the University should wait before joining United!.

"Students have every right to give their opinion," Crawford said. "They did two years ago when we left SAM. That opinion should stand for awhile."

Kappel said he now is collecting signatures to force a vote on whether students want to join United!.

He will need 300 signatures to place the issue on the ballot, according to Senate's constitution. Kappel said he anticipates collecting enough by the end of the week.