The Reporter

wed apr-04 i N S U http://,i <37cr.l3r.stetson.edu D A^^'^'^^P'^AA'1 *4".* Y--i-fr-^!",t ^--^'fL^^ .■ AAhi~'~,^'■^A'^iM SPORTSu Baseball loses close game to FAU Owls page 5b WHAT'S msiOB News 2a Opinions 4A Life ib Sports 5B Etcetera 6a issue JLv volume ©PINIONS'* Students should respect blue-collar workers page 4a n [>rPSM^^^iAPiP:pPfp "PzP :imP. '<^^%mmmf',''S',:''^S'.'^ { %P$P ail *.,'i,A** j> «"„■>,>>,. ^1 ^!„fl.A^ "> .A. .^ J„ * ^T-^C-^^j^r "* *" CHAIR: Vice-president Peter Urscheler leads the SGA meeting on March 31, with assistance from executive secretary Kevin Winchell and parliamentarian and running mate Ryan Hutson. photo by bryan funk s \ }&"<:■&>&■%' .a "T^_?t*^*^'( i_VV' V >."-v^T? • ztC^'^l'-'.'M STOP: Elections committee chair Takeata King Pang informs the SGA that matters of the elections are not to be discussed during the Senate meeting, photo by bryan funk ^Reporter C ONTACT U S 421 N. Woodland Blvd. #8409 DeLand, FL 32720-3751 386.822.7224 FAX 386.822.7233 reporter:*'*; stetson.edu reporter_news-.'.}s tctson.edu opinions'5istetson.edu lifers tetson.edu etcc tetanus tetson.edu sports:^" stetson.edu online^." stetson.edu advertisers tetson.edu By Liz Erlenbach NEWS EDITOR The Student Government Association was thrown into turmoil by the state of today's elections for president and vice-president. With only one candidate for each office currently on the ballot, the organization has become divided over whether to allow current president, junior political science major Michael Davis to run for reelection after Davis turned in an incomplete application several days after the deadline. According to Davis, the decision to run for reelection was a difficult one. "It was a very difficult decision, and I had to work out whether I wanted to study abroad and help out my future, or stay on campus and help out the students," he said. Applications for candidacy were due on Wed., Mar. 17, by 8 p.m. After deciding to run again the night before the deadline, Davis requested an application from senior political science and communications major Takeata King Pang, the chair of the elections committee, that night and" made arrangements to meet her to pick up the application at Late Night in the Commons. However, after missing one another that evening, Davis made arrangements with Pang to bring the application to class the next day. At ten o'clock Wednesday morning, Pang delivered the application to Davis. According to her timeline of events related to the controversy, she informed him at this point that the applications were due that night to the executive secretary, Kevin Winchell, in a signed and sealed envelope. However, Davis claims that Pang never stated this. "Many of the things she claimed "Politics are not to be discussed during Senate. happened did not happen," he said. Once Davis completed his section of the application, he gave it to his running mate, sophomore discovery student Maureen O'Shaughnessy, to complete and turn in, because he was leaving, along with Pang, for a leadership conference in Tallahassee that day. At the Senate meeting that evening, O'Shaughnessy arrived, spoke with Daniella Leavitt, a former candidate for president, and received the impression that the due date for the applications had been pushed back, since Pang was not at the meeting. After roll .._._ call took —"" ' place and quorum was established, she left the Senate meeting to attend Greek standards, still under this impression. However, according tO ZTTTTT—TT^r the SGA minutes, Winchell informed the Senate that applications were still due to him by 8:00 that evening. The only application that Winchell received that evening was that of current vice-president, junior marketing major Peter Urscheler, running for president, and first-year political science major Ryan Hutson , currently serving as parliamentarian and running for next year's vice-president. According to Pang, she received a call from Hutson on Fri., Mar. 19, in which Hutson mentioned that there had been no applications other than that of Urscheler and himself. At that point, she informed Davis that his application had not been turned in, and that she would not accept the application. On Mon., Mar. 22, Davis turned in the application to Pang with a. memo attached addressed to her as the elections chair. As he handed her the application, he stated, "It's not personal." According to Pang, the memo included attacks on her character. "I told him that his claims were completely unsubstantiated and he was completely out of line in giving me such a memo," said Pang. She also informed him that she would be sharing this information with Darald Stubbs, Associate Dean of Students, advisor to SGA and elections advisor, at which point Davis took the memo from her and walked away. On Wed., Mar. 24, at the Senate meeting, a motion was made by Senator Karl Canty to "suspend the rules that interfere with President Davis' and Senator O'Shaughnessy's candidacy for office next 55 year, reasoning so because only one party is candidate for office currently, because Davis and O'Shau^messy are readily ■--_->_a_~^ available to make the elections competitive and because their exclusion from the elections thus far is debatable," according to the minutes from the meeting. ■ This motion was denied by the chair, Urscheler, who cited as his reason that the matter was for the elections committee to decide. Hutson said that the motion was denied because it attempted to suspend the constitution. "You can't suspend the rules to suspend the constitution. That would be like the regular Senate, someone moving, 'I would like to suspend Article 1 and restrict freedom of speech now.' They cannot do that because the constitution applies above and beyond parliamentary procedure," he said. According to Pang and Urscheler, the SGA constitution prevents election matters from being discussed by the Senate. "The elections committee runs totally free from us so it will not have our biases," said Urscheler. Pang reiterated this statement, stating, "Discussion cannot occur within the senate meeting because constitutionally, campaigning and elections business is not a part [of the Senate]... The elections committee works as a separate entity from the senate." However, Davis and O'Shaughnessy allege that this statement could not be found in the latest version of the constitution. O'Shaughnessy said, "She claims that elections cannot be discussed in the Senate, and I looked through the constitution and couldn't find it. [I don't know] if it's a rule she made up." In addition, Davis stated, that there was no precedent for this rule. "Until last year, elections have been discussed in open discussion," he said. The matter of the elections was then brought up again during open discussion at the meeting. Canty was recognized to speak, then yielded the floor see ELECTIONS, page 3a i--«»™Pm™^m"Wn-!WF-7i?-ft-l'(«^^ Article IV, Section C, Part 3, a: SGA Electorate Committee Duties "In the event that one of the candidates breaks the guidelines listed below, the Electorate Committee is charged by the SGA Senate with the expedient adjudication of the situation by the process listed below... The Electorate Committee is the final word for all electorate issues during the election process. They decide all dates, times, and other matters not explicitly outlined herein." Article IV, Section C, Part 4, j & k: Election Guidelines "All rules and guidelines are at the discretion of the Electorate Committee. Should a candidate be found in violation of these guidelines, they will be withdrawn from the campaign. Grievances should be brought to the chair of the elections committee in writing by a member of the committee (i.e. the candidate's representative). The chair may consider or refuse consideration of the grievance at his/her own discretion or may choose to call a meeting. However, the chair must call a meeting at the request of any two other committee members (a request of this sort can be made as an appeal after the chair has pronounced a decision on his/her own). The Committee is then required to meet and return a verdict within 24 hours of the request. SOURCE: SGA CONSTITUTION