By Sarah Metcalf

After four hours of deliberation on Friday, the Student Affairs Board (SAB) declared the Northeastern University Allied Student Coalition’s (NUASC) 2004-05 executive board elections null and void due to constitutional violations.

The decision was made in regards to an internal grievance filed, one of two grievances against NUASC. The second grievance will be heard in the first summer semester, said SAB co-chair Michael Benson.

Allyson Savin, co-chair of the SAB, said it was extremely difficult to determine a fair way in which NUASC’s elections could be conducted, and while the decision the board came to is not ideal, it was the best decision available to make.

“Nearly every solution we could think of had a flaw in it — nothing could be perfect,” Savin said. “Ultimately, the solution we came up with was the most fair and constitutional. I don’t think [the solution is] perfect by any means, but it’s the most perfect we could hope for given the circumstances.”

The SAB handed down a ruling that included six different parts, all relating to NUASC’s election process. According to the ruling, the March 30 elections “violated the NUASC constitution on several accounts,” and thus new elections will be held within the first six weeks of the fall semester.

“Both sides readily admitted the constitution wasn’t followed,” Benson said.

The ruling called for NUASC to “maintain accurate and up to date information with the Student Activities Office with regards to its current officers,” and stated NUASC must also turn over its attendance rosters and meeting minutes to the chair of the SAB no later than one week after their general council meetings, starting this fall and ending at the discretion of the SAB chair.

“The question wasn’t whether the constitution was followed,” Savin said. “The question was how do we fix this while still being fair?”

NUASC President Brian Cox said his organization is working to fix the problems brought up by the grievance.

“There’s still some stuff that’s being worked out internally,” Cox said. “NUASC is currently working to fully rectify the situation and is looking into all of its options, and our main goal right now is doing what’s in the best interest of our members.”

The ruling states that “failure to comply with this order will put NUASC’s status as a recognized undergraduate student organization in jeopardy.”

Benson said the majority of the time, student groups are able to solve internal conflicts among themselves, and he would encourage student organizations to attempt to solve problems internally before going to the SAB.

“On the rare occasion a student group can’t come to an agreement internally, that’s when the board steps in,” he said. “The board does not want to become a ‘Judge Judy’ type of thing.”

Both Benson and Savin said despite NUASC’s recent problems, it had an extremely productive first year, and they expect many good things to come from the group in the future, once it works through the difficulties.

“I think [NUASC] had a remarkable first year as a new student organization, and this may have happened because they are still new,” Savin said. “They have a lot of strong leaders in the organization, and if they can overcome this — which I think they can — it will speak even more highly for their dedication to their organization.”

NUASC is continuing to talk about the decision and the options available to them as an organization, Cox said.

“The decision of the SAB is still being discussed within NUASC and the organization is still making some internal decisions,” he said.