An ASU organization could soon be investigated by the graduate student government for possibly misusing student funds.
On Friday the Graduate and Professional Student Association approved a bill that instructed the GPSA internal affairs committee to investigate the activities of the Get Out the Vote campaign.
Erin Mote, the group's director and a public administration graduate student, said she was caught off-guard when she heard about the GPSA decision.
She said that she was selected to lead the campaign by GPSA President Brian Collier.
"They know who I am obviously," she said, adding that she wished the GPSA had talked to her instead of voting on a bill. "I don't really know the nature of the allegations and it's really hard for me to answer to things that I didn't know my committee was going to be accused of."
Staff members at the Memorial Union and Student Recreation Complex organized Get Out the Vote with students to educate the campus about proposed fees to fund improvements to the MU and SRC. Students voted down the fees in a February referendum.
The bill claims that the organization violated its own claim of neutrality by placing posters and brochures around campus that supported increasing student fees.
"In a 'no' vote, nothing changes, no one is getting charged a fee. When students are making that decision, we wouldn't have a lot to explain," Mote said.
Get Out the Vote officials previously told The State Press that the group was funded primarily by the MU and SRC.
Mote also said that the funding for the campaign "comes directly from the MU and the SRC."
The group spent about $6,000 on the campaign.
According to ASU's Student Organization Resource Center Web site, Get Out the Vote is "an unbiased group that is not advocating that the referendum pass or fail but simply that students are informed."
Mote said that in the interest of avoiding a conflict of interest, she resigned from GPSA as communications director in November.
GPSA science assembly representative Tim Lant said Get Out the Vote did not operate according to its mission statement.
"I also experienced a lot of frustration with the biased informational campaign," Lant said. "That's not what was promised to us before it happened."
Although Lant said the issue warranted public discussion, he cautioned against engaging in a "stone-throwing" process. Get Out the Vote already has disbanded, as the purpose for which the group was founded has been fulfilled, he said.
But that's not the point of the investigation, said Brian Collier, GPSA president.
If the investigation finds that the group inappropriately used student funds, the internal affairs committee can sue the Get Out the Vote Committee on behalf of the GPSA in the ASU Supreme Court.
The court is an independent judicial body that settles governmental disputes among students and student bodies.
"It'll be a public hearing," Collier said. "It can put people on notice that students are paying attention to the shenanigans that are going on."
Miguel Rolland, a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences representative in the assembly, introduced the bill. He suggested a possible punishment if the court rules in favor of the internal affairs committee.
"If they spent money for those slick brochures, then that money should be refunded to the student body," he said.
Reach the reporter at ilan.brat@asu.edu.
