The Fall of AUSG: Part I

Election decertification was just the beginning. The newest AUSG scandal touched off an entire year of controversy and exposed the student government to lasting repercussions. AUSG may never be the same.

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Picture the scene: It’s the night of March 30th, and I’m sitting in my apartment. The AUSG presidential election is over, and I’m eagerly awaiting the results. Unexpectedly, the 9 pm deadline for results passes, but the Elections Commission does not publish the vote totals. Puzzling. I message the Elections Commission on Instagram to ask about the delay, and they reply that the Senate has not finished its certification hearing. As such, results would be delayed for a few hours. Disappointed, I resolved just to wait it out. Then, I got the big news: The AUSG Senate has decertified the presidential election. Thus began one of the biggest student government scandals in years—and potentially ended AUSG as we know it.

While the election decertification was the moment that got the most attention, it was just one link in a chain of malice, incompetence, and toxicity. This crisis had been building for months (if not years), and the outcome of this election will reverberate for years to come. This two-part series summarizes the findings of multiple interviews with members of AUSG, observations of live senate hearings, and HR and judicial documents obtained by the Agora. The first part will explain the election and decertification controversy and the toxic culture of AUSG that allowed these scandals to happen. The second will focus on the long-term effects and what can be done to save the student government.

The Terrible,