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SENATORS ADDRESS GRIEVANCES FROM DISQUALIFIED ELECTIONS CANDIDATES
Highlander Newspaper, CA
May 6 2014
Written by Sandy Van
Members of ASUCR issued apologies during last week's senate meeting,
with some expressing regret for giving late notifications to seven
candidates who were found to be ineligible to run in the 2014-15
elections.
"On behalf of the elections committee, I apologize to all the
candidates who were disqualified on such short notice," said Senator
Niela Darmani. "Regardless, we did put (the disqualification decision)
to vote (and) the senate did vote to not allow it to pass."
A special senate meeting was held on April 21, where a few disqualified
candidates attempted to appeal a previous judicial branch decision,
ruling that candidates were ineligible to run. Some candidates cited
poor grades as the reason behind their disqualification. Senators
voted to support the judicial branch ruling, but Outreach Director
Mina Kato attempted to reconsider the vote, which President Sai
Patadia believed to be "illegitimate." The meeting was effectively
halted after Patadia encouraged members of the senate to leave the
senate chambers to prevent Kato's motion from going through.
Disqualified candidate Arturo Gomez described the April 21 senate
meeting to reconsider the disqualifications a "farce," stating that
members of senate behaved in an "unprofessional" manner by leaving
during the middle of the meeting.
"When there's a civil discussion, you don't shout at people and tell
them to get up and leave. You were elected to be professionals (and)
you were elected to do your jobs," explained Gomez.
Kato explained that the motion was made after hearing different
interpretations of the constitution and the motion was not out of
malintent toward the senate. "I felt like I could make a motion
with additional information and multiple views on the constitution,"
said Kato.
Abstaining from the special vote to reconsider, Senator Jessica Moncayo
referred to Robert's Rules of Order -- a constitutional framework
for holding student government meetings -- which stated that members
of the senate are allowed to reconsider a vote as long as it is a
"hasty action" to correct any votes believed to be erroneous.
Despite the roundtable apologies initially given, President Sai
Patadia said he could not apologize for the overall disqualification
process. "I do not apologize for standing up for what I thought
was going to be an illegitimate vote, but I do apologize for the
procedure and how you were notified late," he said. "I think it's
important that every association acknowledges where it should improve."
On the other hand, Senator Abraham Galvan held fast to the belief
that members of the senate who walked out of the special meeting
could have made other choices instead.
"You might've disagreed with (the decision to reconsider), you
might've thought it was wrong, but you could've voted against it,
you could've abstained from it, you could've submitted a case to the
judicial branch if you thought it was inappropriate," he said.
"There's a lot of things that you could've done besides encouraging
people to get up and leave the meeting when there were still people
in the galley ready to talk to us."
After a long discussion, Moncayo later encouraged Gomez to be proactive
about any cases of perceived misconduct or alleged unfairness in the
future senate.
An omnipresent silence fell upon the Senate chambers toward the end
of the meeting as senators took a moment to recognize the following
historical events: the Fall of Saigon (1975), the Armenian Genocide
(1915-1923), and the Holocaust (1933-45).
The Fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of
a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam
into a Socialist Republic governed by the Communist Party. Another
historical event that was brought up was the Armenian Genocide, which
the senate previously declared a day of remembrance for on April 24.
The occurrence is seen by many as the Ottoman Empire's systematic
extermination of the Armenian people during and after World War I. The
Holocaust was the genocide of approximately six million Jews by Nazi
Germany during World War II.
http://www.highlandernews.org/13530/senators-address-grievances-from-disqualified-elections-candidates/
Highlander Newspaper, CA
May 6 2014
Written by Sandy Van
Members of ASUCR issued apologies during last week's senate meeting,
with some expressing regret for giving late notifications to seven
candidates who were found to be ineligible to run in the 2014-15
elections.
"On behalf of the elections committee, I apologize to all the
candidates who were disqualified on such short notice," said Senator
Niela Darmani. "Regardless, we did put (the disqualification decision)
to vote (and) the senate did vote to not allow it to pass."
A special senate meeting was held on April 21, where a few disqualified
candidates attempted to appeal a previous judicial branch decision,
ruling that candidates were ineligible to run. Some candidates cited
poor grades as the reason behind their disqualification. Senators
voted to support the judicial branch ruling, but Outreach Director
Mina Kato attempted to reconsider the vote, which President Sai
Patadia believed to be "illegitimate." The meeting was effectively
halted after Patadia encouraged members of the senate to leave the
senate chambers to prevent Kato's motion from going through.
Disqualified candidate Arturo Gomez described the April 21 senate
meeting to reconsider the disqualifications a "farce," stating that
members of senate behaved in an "unprofessional" manner by leaving
during the middle of the meeting.
"When there's a civil discussion, you don't shout at people and tell
them to get up and leave. You were elected to be professionals (and)
you were elected to do your jobs," explained Gomez.
Kato explained that the motion was made after hearing different
interpretations of the constitution and the motion was not out of
malintent toward the senate. "I felt like I could make a motion
with additional information and multiple views on the constitution,"
said Kato.
Abstaining from the special vote to reconsider, Senator Jessica Moncayo
referred to Robert's Rules of Order -- a constitutional framework
for holding student government meetings -- which stated that members
of the senate are allowed to reconsider a vote as long as it is a
"hasty action" to correct any votes believed to be erroneous.
Despite the roundtable apologies initially given, President Sai
Patadia said he could not apologize for the overall disqualification
process. "I do not apologize for standing up for what I thought
was going to be an illegitimate vote, but I do apologize for the
procedure and how you were notified late," he said. "I think it's
important that every association acknowledges where it should improve."
On the other hand, Senator Abraham Galvan held fast to the belief
that members of the senate who walked out of the special meeting
could have made other choices instead.
"You might've disagreed with (the decision to reconsider), you
might've thought it was wrong, but you could've voted against it,
you could've abstained from it, you could've submitted a case to the
judicial branch if you thought it was inappropriate," he said.
"There's a lot of things that you could've done besides encouraging
people to get up and leave the meeting when there were still people
in the galley ready to talk to us."
After a long discussion, Moncayo later encouraged Gomez to be proactive
about any cases of perceived misconduct or alleged unfairness in the
future senate.
An omnipresent silence fell upon the Senate chambers toward the end
of the meeting as senators took a moment to recognize the following
historical events: the Fall of Saigon (1975), the Armenian Genocide
(1915-1923), and the Holocaust (1933-45).
The Fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of
a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam
into a Socialist Republic governed by the Communist Party. Another
historical event that was brought up was the Armenian Genocide, which
the senate previously declared a day of remembrance for on April 24.
The occurrence is seen by many as the Ottoman Empire's systematic
extermination of the Armenian people during and after World War I. The
Holocaust was the genocide of approximately six million Jews by Nazi
Germany during World War II.
http://www.highlandernews.org/13530/senators-address-grievances-from-disqualified-elections-candidates/