By Jim Edwards
The circumstances are clear. Former SGA President Michael Benson and former Vice President Chad Cooper were forced to resign their SGA posts after being found responsible for Code of Conduct violations. The remaining members of SG”s executive board scheduled a special election to fill the vacant positions on Aug. 2. However, based upon their Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution hearing, Benson and Cooper would not be eligible to run on Aug. 2. In fact, they would not be able to run until a later date in September, such as the date requested in an appeal submitted by SGA Sen. Heidi Buchanan on Sept. 8.
Many senators would not be able to attend the scheduled Joint Senate in August, due to co-op restrictions or the fact that all freshmen senators are home for the summer. Understanding this, the e-board announced a “straw poll” vote, an unofficial vote to be conducted through email. So around 6 p.m. on July 27, Vice President for Administration John Guilfoil, on behalf of interim President Ashley Adams, forwarded to “all senate members” a copy of the appeal and a method of voting by e-mail reply. Whether all senate members received a copy is a point of much contention, as at least two senators have made clear that they did not. The surprising number of “no responses” may lead you to believe that aggressive spam-filters or incorrect or outdated e-mail addresses may have caused a problem. The replies were to be submitted by noon on Aug. 1. This gave senators less than five days to check their e-mail and respond. Is it possible some senators were not aware of the appeal, did not check that specific e-mail address and, as a result, did not vote? Most likely.
On Aug. 1, the votes were tallied. The e-mail sent out that afternoon cited the results as 39 votes for the appeal, 18 against and 21 abstentions. What was not told in the original e-mail was that 21 senators did not abstain by replying “I abstain,” rather only one senator had replied abstaining, but the board counted no responses as abstentions also. The more exact vote count was 39 for the appeal, 18 against, 1 abstention, 20 no-reply. Both the ratio of “yea” to “nay” votes and the ratio of “yea” to “nay plus abstentions” exceed a two-thirds super-majority. However, according to the rules set out for the special “straw poll” vote, the appeal did not need to pass a two-thirds majority of the voting members, but rather needed to pass a two-thirds majority of ALL the members of senate, aware or not! Those members of senate included all freshmen senators who are home, all senators who are on co-op, those who have aggressive spam blockers, senators who do not check their originally specified e-mail address often, all senators who were on vacation of any sort, all senators whose computers were broken, whose Internet was down or who were just not able to check and reply to an e-mail within five days!
The end result leaves us still without a replacement for former Cooper and no choice but to affirm Vice President Adams as our new SGA president, as she is running unopposed. Is this really in the best interest of student government, or the best interest of NU? I have full confidence in Vice President Adams’ ability to run our organization, but does that make this steamrolled election any more valid?
The procedure since the decision that Benson and Cooper were to step down has been shady and underhanded every step of the way. If the intent of an early election was to find the best possible candidate for the job, it has not been accomplished by having a crippled attendance and voting base. However, if the intent was to specifically exclude certain people from running or handpick an executive board, congratulations, it seems you are on your way, letting almost nothing stop you.
– Jim Edwards is a sophomore electrical engineering major and an SGA senator.
