ASG combines treasury and finance positions following vacancy

On Oct. 24, Miami University’s Associated Student Government (ASG) combined the positions of Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of Finance, elected two senators to the student trustees selection committee and received new information on Miami’s climate action plan.

At the beginning of the meeting, Olivia Herron, the director of sustainability, presented Miami’s updated climate action plan that includes reaching carbon neutrality by 2040. The plan was outlined by Miami President Greg Crawford at the State of the University Address.

Following the presentation, Senator Ryan Parker presented legislation to combine the positions of Secretary of Finance and Secretary of the Treasury. Parker wrote the legislation to combine the two positions because of the vacancy of a Secretary of Finance following a resignation after the last election cycle.

Since the resignation, Secretary of the Treasury Venus Harvey has been fulfilling the roles of both positions. Senator Ryan Parker deemed the position of Secretary of Finance as excessive because of the revamping of the funding and the audit system put in place during spring 2023.

“There no longer really needs to be two positions,” Parker said. “The duties of the Secretary of Finance can be managed alongside the treasury secretary and the Secretary of Finance funds could be put to better use in initiatives from other programs.”

Multiple senators questioned why an election to fill the open position had not taken place. faculty adviser Scott Walter said that Harvey’s time in seemingly both positions negated the reason for an election.

“Secretary Harvey has done great work as Secretary of the Treasury and has shown that one person can do the tasks of both positions,” Walter said.

The combination of the two positions was approved by the Senate with 29 “yes” votes against two “no” votes.

ASG then approved two nominations for the student trustees selection committee. Senators Daniel Martin and Kirsten Osteboe were elected to the committee.

Martin and Osteboe will be part of the selection process of student trustees, which give a student perspective to decisions the Board of Trustees make. Both senators talked about the importance of selecting the correct student trustee because of issues that the board will be deciding on in the near future.

“There's so many items today in higher education and I feel that there's a lot of important issues right now that interest me in the committee,” Martin said. “We really just need someone on the selection committee that’s able to incite change.”

The next ASG meeting is at 6 p.m. on Oct. 31 in the Joslin Senate Chamber.