Tublitz won University Senate VP poll

In an e-mail sent to members of the University Senate, Senate President Paul van Donkelaar disclosed the results of the ballot for Senate Vice President at the May 27 Senate meeting, and the winner was the outspoken biology professor Nathan Tublitz.

Tublitz received 12 votes to law professor Andrea Coles-Bjerre’s 11, but van Donkelaar nullified the results because the 23 total votes did not constitute quorum for the Senate. Other senators have questioned van Donkelaar’s ruling. On the Daily Emerald’s comment thread, someone claiming to be biology professor Frank Stahl wrote:

Senate meetings do not start until a quorum has assembled. Thus, we must presume that the vote was properly taken. Promptly upon viewing the 12 to 11 vote, the Senate President declared that there was no quorum.

Paul Simonds, the Senate’s parliamentarian, agreed in e-mails obtained by the Emerald, writing:

My take on this is that the election was valid since, normally, the quorum call cannot be made after the action is taken.  It can only be invalidated by “clear and convincing proof” of a lack of quorum.  Since the vote was taken with the assumption that there was a quorum and no one called for a quorum count, and, finally, no count of abstentions was taken,  the “clear and convincing proof” may be difficult to show.

Tublitz was nominated for the position, whose occupant becomes Senate president after serving for one year, during the meeting, which Simonds said was unconventional. Some in the Senate are said to have been upset at the manner of his nomination.

There is also an interesting post about this on <a href=”http://uomatters.blogspot.com/”>the UO Matters blog</a>.