ASCWU decides not to pursue recall election, board still not confident in Anderson’s abilities as president

The Associated Students of Central Washington University (ASCWU) decided Monday not to pursue a recall election of President Ryan Anderson. Anderson also chose not to voluntarily resign.

“We met with administration this morning to discuss the next best option and found that it is in the best interest for this institution and the students to move forward as a board in a positive direction,” Anderson said, reading a prepared statement.

The board members said they have decided not to recall Anderson because the process would be lengthy and would not serve the students well for the remainder of the year.

Additionally, they said they felt it would negatively affect the election for next year’s ASCWU board, since both elections would take place at the same time.

Monday’s meeting was short, only lasting about 40 minutes. At the tail end, as is customary with all public meetings, there was a public comment period. Only one student chose to speak.

“I’ve heard a few times this meeting that the board has decided to move forward in the best interest of students and the best interest of the board, [but] I don’t know what that means,” Luke Aguilar said to the board.

“I would love to know maybe what the compromises are and how you guys are going to fix those problems because I don’t believe you can serve us as students in the state the board has been in thus far,” he added.

Anderson reiterated that the election process would take away from the opportunities for next year’s board to have a clean and effective election.

“I’m going to be actively working on my leadership skills as the leader of the student government,” Anderson said. “So hopefully we can come together as a collective so we can pool our resources together for what the students need.”

Hauke Harfst, vice president for Academic Affairs, added that going forward with this recall election would take too much time and could negatively affect the experience for next year’s board.  

“Are there still maybe some harsh feelings or bad relationships? Maybe,” he said. “But we’re trying to put those aside and move forward in a positive manner.”