How well do you know CU Student Government?

The power of the CUSG budget 

Right here at CU Boulder, CU Student Government is regarded as one of the most autonomous student governments in the country, who oversee the largest budget of nearly $27 million. But, not many students know about the intricacies of the organization.

With this budget, these students oversee the operations of the University Memorial Center, the Student Rec Center, Center for Student Involvement (CSI), The Environmental Center, CU Student Government, Cultural Events Boards, Off Campus Housing, Legal Services, Volunteer Resource Center (VRC), Student Organization Allocation Board (SOAC), KVCU Radio 1190, Distinguished Speakers Board (DSB), and Colleges and Schools. 

Additionally, CUSG has budgetary decision making over student club events and organizes homecoming, the Diversity Summit and the Inclusive Sports Summit. All of their funding comes directly from student tuition and fees. 

CUSG began as a way for students to participate in budgetary concerns at the University level. The budget that they oversee controls a large part of the undergraduate experience at CU—the student rec center and the UMC—both on-campus hubs for student life. 

And while their operations on the outside are working efficiently, taking a look inside, according to CUSG affiliates, their operations between each other haven’t been so smooth for a long time. 

“When it comes to systemic issues within CUSG, I think we’re looking at something that’s very similar to what we see in the rest of the country,” said Jake Carias, Ph.D candidate and former CUSG member. “It’s tough and needs to be a better environment and I think that is where the administration has failed them.”

Structural issues inside CUSG have been happening for years, bubbling under the surface and passing from generation of elected officials to generation until they hit the boiling point and exploded last semester. 

While allegations of racist comments and structural inequities have been used by many members of CUSG, no one has given clear and specific examples of the issues they saw within the organization. 

A breakdown of the three branches

Along with controlling a large budget, each individual branch has a set of complex responsibilities. Breaking down the branches is crucial to understanding the larger picture.

CU Student Government has three branches. The executive branch consists of three executive (tri-executives) presidents who are elected by a popular vote each spring to serve one-year terms. The tri-executives appoint their own executive cabinet members, who serve the same one-year term, which are ratified by the legislative council. 

The executive branch is currently headed by three tri executive members, Kavya Kannan, Taylor Weinsz and Ben Capeloto. 

The legislative branch (legislative council), consists of two houses, the Representative Council, and the Council of Colleges and Schools (CCS). The representative council, known as representatives-at-large, includes members elected by a popular vote. Four representatives in the spring and five representatives in the fall. The council of colleges and schools includes 18 senators, two for each college and they gain their seats depending on the college or school. The branch itself elects a legislative president and a vice president that rules over the two houses. The legislative branch has the final approval over the CU Student Government yearly budget and passes the student fees package, which happens in the Spring session. They have representation from all large campus programs by sitting on joint boards. 

The legislative branch is currently run by Crisol Corral and Jezzy Medina, after last semester’s leaders, Sophia Khan and Nikky Garaga, terms ended.

The judicial branch, also known as the appellate court, serves out lifetime appointments, meaning they serve until they graduate, quit or run for other CUSG positions. Seven justices serve on the appellate court, ruled by a chief justice and an associate chief justice. The court is appointed by the executives and must be ratified by two-thirds of the legislative council. They handle questions about constitutionality in cases brought up by students, other university representatives, and questions that arise in all the cost centers that CUSG is responsible for. They also oversee election infractions and the Chief Justice chairs impeachment hearings, if and when necessary. 

The judicial branch is led by Chief Justice Emily Huang—who was Chief Deputy Justice last semester—and Elizabeth Gilbert, after last semester’s Chief Justice Alessandra Wilson graduated.

As an experienced CUSG alumnus and former member of both the executive and legislative branches, Carias’ notes that the judicial branch only sees a “generous average” of two cases a year between both CUSG members and the outside student body. According to Carias, the branches’ appellate rules were formulated without knowledge of who created them and when, meaning there isn’t much on its history. 

Like the national government, each branch has its own checks and balances to ensure that the other branches maintain equal but different powers. The legislative branch can ratify—or not ratify—justices to sit on the judicial branch. The judicial branch hears cases from inside CUSG and the student body’s issues and makes decisions based on presented information from both parties. They can accept or deny cross-branch issues and have a large role in deciding laws. 

These checks and balances allowed students to protest the cross-branch disputes that began last fall. 

Moments leading up to the strike 

For some time, the legislative branch would not ratify new justices after inter-branch disputes occurred stemming from summer conversations. While these disputes have not explicitly been named, members say unfair treatment was present. The ratification process is a power granted to the legislative branch, so they halted the ratification process to protest the disputes. This ultimately caused more back-and-forth and anger within the organization and other branches. 

One of the executive branch’s checks and balances includes amending the chancellor’s agreement, first created in 1985 and amended a few times since. 

“The chancellor’s agreement is a series of policies and procedures that’s always been in place in CUSG,” said Ben Capeloto, tri-executive president. “It is historically edited and revised by the CUSG tri-executives of publicly elected office and the vice chancellor of student affairs and the chancellor.” 

Because the legislative branch wouldn’t ratify new justices earlier this year, the tri-executives amended the chancellor’s agreement on Oct. 4, a significant decision for student government, which may have been years in the making. Former members have stated previous tri-executive Isaiah Chavous began this process in his 2020-2021 term.

When this document has been edited or amended in the past, the legislative council president and finance board chairs were included in discussion, but were not invited to partake in the most recent change, headed by the current tri-executives. 

This recent amendment allows CU Boulder administration to remove elected members from office, for any reason, after going through a series of meetings and protocols. This change revokes democratic power from the three branches and the student body who voted for them, as well as making the group less autonomous, which is their claim to fame. As of now, no one has been removed from their positions following this change. 

During the Oct. 7 meeting, tensions rose and eventually exploded. Members spoke emotionally about systemic racism in the organization and the inability for action to occur between the three branches. 

All of this led to the Oct. 11 strike of the legislative branch and the heated meetings that followed. The strike meant the branch would continue to work but not review new cases. Legislative members attended meetings during their strike to ensure that student organizations wouldn’t feel the repercussions of the inter-branch arguments. Tensions in the legislative branch became too much, causing newly hired CUSG advisor Cole Wise to quit the job after only a few months on the job. 

To mend their relationships with the other two branches, the legislative branch conducted their first ratifications in months, on Oct. 28, appointing Natasha Panepinto as a judicial justice. With Panepinto’s appointment, the court’s seats were filled and the branch could then operate normally.  

The legislative branch holds weekly meetings that are open to the public in person—and online streamed via Facebook—at their offices in the UMC—on Thursday’s starting at 7 p.m. 

What comes next

This strike isn’t something new. In 2013, the tri-executives amended the chancellor’s agreement sparking heated protests and a strike from the legislative council, ultimately resulting in a cross-branch resolution more than a year later. The pattern of conflicts and disputes between branches, from one term to the next, reveals the interplay of political power, not only in the fall 2021 session but over the span of eight years. 

“You’ve got turnover rates that are so high, you know, an executive leaves every year and rarely [comes] back to help. You’ve got legislators who are out every semester,” said Carias on the topic of the lack of contituny in CUSG and the difficulties it creates. 

This is the first time CUSG has been led by three women of color. But members have concerns of between-branch prejudice and racism in the system that was founded more than 30 years ago. Prior to CUSG’s founding in 1974, the organization was named University of Colorado Student Union and had significantly less power on campus. 

CUSG elections for the upcoming school year begin next Monday, Apr. 4 through Apr. 8. Since there is ongoing uncertainty about elected officials representing the student body, reporters for The Bold worked to uncover the issues facing student government in this multi-part series. 

Originally reported for CU News Corps 

Additional reporting by Dawson Drew and Georgia Worrell