By Sarah Mcsparin
Problems with senator accountability persist even as the 2006-07 academic year draws to a close.
At an SGA executive board meeting March 28 addressing the firing of two senators and punishment of three others over poor attendance, too few board members showed up to meet quorum. SGA officials said no action was takaen at the meeting because of that.
Student Government Association officials would not release the names of the senators being considered for removal or other sanctions. The Cardinal filed an open records request to obtain the information, but SGA officials denied the initial request yesterday.
Both SGA Executive Vice President Brian Hoffman, a junior political scrience and economics major, and Senate Development Board Co-Chairperson Mehak Bajaj, a sophomore biology major, said the names could not be released because the executive board was not able to meet.
“We only had seven people show up, so we weren’t able to act on anything,” Hoffman said.
“Since they’re getting paid to be the voice of the student body, they need to at least participate in the meetings,” said sophomore Lindsey Joyce, a biology major. “I can understand missing for some circumstances, but it is not acceptable when they can’t even have enough people show up to fix the problem of them not showing up,” she added.
The recommendation by the SGA’s development board called for the termination of two senators and the pay of three senators to be withheld due to multiple unexcused absences at mandatory meetings. The SGA did not release the names of the five senators in question.
“They a,re the students’ voice and they can’t be the students’ voice if they don’t show up to meetings,” College of Arts and Sciences senator Matt Flairty, a junior political science major, said.
Despite the board meeting not reaching quorum, “We discussed at the meeting how it was really too little, too late. We agreed that they should not be paid, but it was more appropriate to develop a stricter attendance policy recommendation,” Hoffman said.
Bajaj, who is from A&S, said the purpose of the development board is to “hold people accountable,” but because the board is “fairly recent,” it does not have the power to take direct action against senators without executive board consideration. Bajaj, a sophomore biology major, said by next year the SGA bylaws will grant the development board more authority.
If a senator must miss a meeting, he or she is required to submit a written notice in advance to the EVP.
SGA is reviewing the current attendance policy and will be examining a more formal policy recommendation at the final senate meeting on May 1. The recommendation will not be put into action unless next year’s Senate decides to put it into governing documents.
