You've Got a Grievance

The Student Senate has taken a black eye recently with an embarrassing grievance filed against one of its senators. The senator in question, Dominique Beaumonte, caused a disturbance in the EMU Computer Lab on Thursday, October 11, when, according to lab employee John Holmstrom, Beaumonte caused a very large scene in the lab. “He was yelling, stopping us who had to deal with him from doing other work.”

The incident began at 4:30 p.m. when Beaumonte entered the EMU lab and talked to lab manager Amy McCoy about the lab’s no-chat policy. According to Beaumonte, McCoy said she was going to change the no-chat policy of the lab. At 6:45 PM Beaumonte returned to the lab and told employee Sarah Parish that McCoy had agreed to change the no-chat policy for the lab and asked to take down the no-chat signs. Parish said she would have to talk to McCoy, who had already gone home for the day, about any policy change and then deal with the signs accordingly. Beaumonte then crossed out the signs, a clear act of vandalism, and left the lab.

After Beaumonte departed, Parish told Holmstrom what had happened in the lab. At 8:15 PM, Beaumonte returned to the lab. Holmstrom told the senator that he was banned from the lab for vandalism until further notice. Beaumonte and Holmstrom then got into an argument. Beaumonte then proceeded to act in such a fashion as to cause serious concern for those in the lab. “[He was] yelling. To the point I was beginning to feel like he may act violently,” said Holmstrom. After the argument, Beaumonte left the lab to get “proof” from the Green Tape Notebook that student incidental fees fund the EMU Lab and, therefore, he could have carte blanche on the computers. However, the EMU Lab is funded by student technical fees, which are controlled by the administration, not incidental fees which are controlled by the students.

At 8:30 p.m. Beaumonte returned to the lab without making any offer of proof regarding the use of student incidental fees. He then continued to yell and gesture at Holmstrom and Parish. Parish said that he should talk to McCoy, because Parish and Holmstrom don’t have the power to change the lab rules. Beaumonte reached across the counter, took a computing card and sat down at one of the computers to go about whatever business he had planned for himself. Holmstrom decided to call the Department of Public Safety because Beaumonte refused to leave the premises.

Upon the arrival of DPS officers, Beaumonte made a bigger scene by refusing to leave the lab. He shook his finger in the face of the officers. To DPS, he said that he wasn’t leaving because it was, “his right to use the lab.” DPS asked Beaumonte to leave repeatedly and then threatened to call EPD. Beaumonte said that he didn’t care if EPD is came, and that he was staying, regardless of the police. The EPD was called, and Beaumonte left before any EPD officers arrived on the scene.

The day after the incident, Parish filed a grievance against Beaumonte with the Student Senate. This grievance has since been forwarded to the ASUO Constitution Court, which has yet to schedule a hearing on the incident or the grievance. The Con Court should schedule a hearing fairly soon.

According to Holmstrom, Beaumonte violated Student Conduct Code regulations. The brief list is intentional disruption, obstruction or interference with services usually provided or sponsored by the University; damage to University property (damaged the sign); unauthorized entry into a University facility; disorderly conduct in the form of causing unreasonable noise; and failure to comply with University employees in acting in the performance of their duties.

In addition to the Student Conduct violations above, Beaumonte also violated University Acceptable Use policy during the incident in the EMU Lab. According to the Acceptable Use Policy (available at http://cc/policy/acceptable_use.html), “Activities related to the University's scholarly mission take precedence over computing pursuits of a more personal or recreational nature.” The example given is that people working on research take precedence to those checking their personal email. Also, the no-chat policy is from the Computing Center and applies to all labs on campus not just the EMU Lab. So, the no-chat policy is in effect for the Klamath Lab and the Knight Library, as well as the EMU Lab.

Holmstrom, who is a student as well as an employee, said that Beaumonte’s actions do not reflect well for a student leader. “If he can't act in a reasonable manner towards an employee or a fellow student (of which I am both) even when agitated, he should not be a representative of our student body,” Holmstrom said via email. Holmstrom also said that he was undecided as to whether or not he would be filing his own grievance, but hoped the grievance filed by Parish had some effect, “I hope that they don't just blow Sarah off.” Parish, who filed the grievance that has just been forwarded from the Senate to the Con Court, confirmed the entire preceding timeline, but declined further comment on the issue after repeated attemtps to reach her via email.

Timothy Dreier, who made the mistake of puking on Pete’s floor, is a staff writer for the Oregon Commentator