Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) voted unanimously to approve a memorandum statement in support of President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and demanding that student voices be heard at its senate meeting on Wednesday.

ASI President Faith Van Hoven read the statement out loud, requesting feedback from the senate.

“The memorandum that the president has just read out loud to you all is not a neutral memorandum,” said Frederick Lisitsa, ASI executive vice president. “It is with a position, right? So that’s why we did not want to just pass it through the executive board, separate from the senate, we wanted the endorsement of the senate if we were to make an official release of what we thought of this situation.”

The ASI action follows the controversy that began last week when the California State University Employees Union (CSUEU) and California Faculty Association (CFA) released a petition calling for the resignation of President Jiménez-Sandoval. 

In another development, the California Faculty Association Fresno chapter president, Andrew Jones, issued an official retraction statement on Monday morning. 

“For my part, caught up in the fervor of support a member of CSUEU had for the petition, I endorsed it without consultation with the Chapter Executive Board or the membership,” Jones said in a faculty-wide email. “As the newly elected president, I felt we needed to show solidarity and support our sibling union, given they were going ahead with the petition. In hindsight, this was a serious mistake, and I take full responsibility for it.”

The CSUEU, however, has not backed down. The union recently added student assistants to its membership and is involved in negotiating a first contract for them. 

According to executive members of ASI, CSUEU President Catherine Hutchinson refuses to meet with ASI or any members of the Fresno State community. 

In an email to Lisitsa, Hutchinson would not provide documentation of polling information, meeting minutes or student correspondences. 

“Thank you for your message on behalf of the Fresno State ASI Executive Board,” Hutchinson said. “CSUEU will not provide the requested data or meet with ASI. The petition in question is a labor petition, and there may be some misunderstanding regarding the use of the word ‘united’ on it. Those signing the petition, including staff, students, and faculty, are expressing solidarity. We do have students who wish to sign the petition as well, and that is why students are included in the petition.”

Hutchinson said she is, however, willing to meet with President Jiménez-Sandoval. 

“We appreciate ASI’s efforts in encouraging a meeting between President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and the unions to discuss our concerns,” Hutchinson said. “CSUEU looks forward to engaging with President Jiménez-Sandoval to address these matters. We would also appreciate your support and the President’s in holding [C]SU accountable to Student Assistants by advocating for a fair first contract.”

During the public comment section of the meeting, two individuals who were unable to attend in person submitted statements prior to the meeting. 

Peter Fortune, a Fresno State alumnus, explained he has had personal issues with the university regarding bullying, harassment and personal property damage.  

He said ASI should support the petition.

“I believe that ASI should support the petition to have the current President Saul Jiménez-Sandoval resign,” Fortune said in the statement to ASI. “The current President was hand picked by the previous President. Their leadership styles and methods are nearly exactly the same. They both have a long and well documented history of abuse of power to enrich themselves and their friends and favored employees at the expense of st[udents].”

Another individual, Belinda Munoz, a staff member at Fresno State and member of the CSUEU, submitted a statement voicing her concern about the fellow staff member she says is responsible for the petition, especially its focus on a personal issue with Debbie Adishian-Astone, vice president of administration and chief financial officer and the recent revelations in a Fresno Bee article.

“In my two hour conversation with [the individual], it was evident that [they were] the individual instigating the petition and that this was personal,” Munoz said in the statement. “Unfortunately, [the individual’s] history with Fresno State and VP Astone is long and conspicuous. [The individual] made several indications on our call that [they were] going to enforce a follow through with the petition, regardless of how staff felt about being ignored and shut out of such an important decision…Creating a petition asking for [the president’s] resignation and submitting it to the news media to get his attention is extreme and unnecessary.”

Multiple sources have told The Collegian the identity of the individual referred to and named by Munoz in her statement, but the newspaper has not been able to independently confirm those reports. Multiple efforts to contact the individual have not been successful.  

Munoz has asked the Fresno chapter of CSUEU to retract its support of the petition and address its staff regarding the matter.  

In her statement to the ASI senate, Munoz demanded that local union leadership discuss the petition with members. If the union’s executive committee refuses, she said she will hold a public forum at noon Friday and “share with the news media that the CSUEU is refusing to discuss the petition with our staff members.”  

At 11 a.m. today, the university is hosting an open forum in the Library Table Mountain Rancheria Reading Room for staff and faculty. The forum is closed to students and media, according to Lisa Bell, public information officer at Fresno State. The forum was planned before the resignation petition surfaced. 

“The forum for employees has always been a closed internal event, to allow staff and faculty the freedom to ask questions without concerns about being recorded or publicly reported on,” Bell said in a statement to The Collegian.

However, at the ASI meeting Wednesday afternoon, President Van Hoven publicly invited everyone to attend the forum. 

When asked for a statement of clarification, the university did not respond. 

Meanwhile, a student open forum, also planned before the petition surfaced, will be an informal event called “Popcorn with the Presidents” co-hosted by ASI President Van Hoven and University President Jiménez-Sandoval on the first floor of the Resnick Student Union at 2 p.m. today.