A University Trial Court judge ruled Thursday that Student Senate Speaker Michael Busada must bring any disagreements with College Council senate appointments before the court.
The ruling came as the result Sen. Heath Hattaway filing a complaint against Busada for not swearing in two University College of Freshman Year senate appointees.
Busada said he did not swear in the appointees because the process in which they were elected allegedly was mishandled.
The UCFY College Council voted to appoint John Chassaniol and Evan Bergeron in November 2003.
According to a letter, signed on Nov. 13 by UCFY Council President Jim Evans and former UCFY Council Secretary Amy Scales, the Council elected Chassaniol and Bergeron. The letter, which also stated that the Council met quorum, was sent to Busada.
Busada said he received the letter.
He said he did not have enough time to present it to Dean of students Kevin Price because the University was closed when he received it.
Speaker Busada said the College Council did not follow the Student Government Constitution Bylaws for electing senators to fill vacancy positions.
He said the Council failed to abide by Article 2, section 7 of the SG constitutional preamble which states “if a vacancy occurs on the Student Senate, it may be filled immediately by the respective college council by a majority vote of its members.”
Busada said all the members of the UCFY College Council needed to be present in order to appoint Bergeron and Chassaniol.
UCFY treasurer Rachel Carver was not present for the meeting, but at-large member Rebecca Bird acted as proxy in her place. Busada said a proxy should not have been called, because the SG constitution and UCFY constitution does not contain a provision stating whether or not a proxy can be used for College Council members.
Since nothing in the constitutions allow the Council to have a proxy vote, they should not have called Bird, Busada said.
Article 2, section 4 of the SG Bylaws said “proxies for members of Student Senate shall not be allowed.” This rule does not specifically mention the College Councils members.
Hattaway said Council members were under the assumption that they needed all the members to vote, so they called Carver and asked her if someone could vote in her place.
He said she approved of the decision and the council members voted among themselves for a proxy.
The Council members voted for Bird to be proxy after Sen. Chris Odinet decline, Hattaway said.
He said since Bird is on the College Council, they thought it would not be a problem.
According to the minutes of the meeting, six people voted.
Hattaway’s written complaint said Bird cast two votes with the other officers and senators.
Busada said he could not swear in Bergeron and Chassaniol at the following Senate meeting because there was a problem with the way they were appointed.
He said even if proxies were allowed, the UCFY College Council did not have a majority vote.
Hattaway disagreed, citing article 2, section 7 of the SG constitution as a means to justify the voting process used by the UCFY College Council.
He said the majority of the council members were present at the meeting, so the vote should be legitimate.
Busada said he informed UCFY and the appointees of this problem, and they agreed to redo the appointments at another meeting, but Hattaway filed an injunction with University Trial Court stopping the meeting from taking place.
Chassaniol and Bergeron said they were contacted by SG former parliamentarian Ralph Johnson and informed of the problems with their appointments.
Hattaway said the basis of his complaint is that the Speaker does not have the right to reject College Council appointments.
“My concern is that the Speaker of the Student Senate, who happens to be a member of the council in question, is using powers not given to him by the constitution or Bylaws of SG,” Hattaway said in his written complaint.
He said the constitution does not contain ambiguous clauses that give the speaker power to block appointments.
“I filed the complaint on behalf of the persons [Bergeron and Chassaniol] in question and additionally to hold ourselves to our own rules,” Hattaway said.
Busada said if he had sworn in Bergeron and Chassaniol then he would have violated the oath he took when he became senator.
He said as speaker he must ensure that appointments are carried out faithfully, and he could not swear in senators who have questionable appointments.
“My obligation is to follow the law, follow the truth and not misrepresent the senate,” Busada said during trial testimony. “And I feel like I did that.”
Busada said the complaint is just another attack made by Hattaway to strengthen his political platform.
“This is just another jab by Senator Hattaway,” He said.
Busada said other senators believe Hattaway wants his
position, denied the Speaker’s claim.
Hattaway said he filed the complaint because he would expect someone to do the same for him if the situation were reversed.
After hearing all of this in a University Trial Court, Judge Michael Tipton ruled the Speaker does not have the power to block appointments made by a College Council. But if Speaker Busada finds a problem with their decision, then he must file an injunction to stop the appointments and then file a complaint with the Trial Court.
Tipton said UCFY has the power to appoint who they want and suggested that they should have another meeting to decide if they want to redo the appointments or if they want to keep the appointments as they currently are.
Both parties were satisfied with the ruling.
“This confirms that I acted in an appropriate manner and it was a diversion that took time from talking about the issues that effect students,” Busada said.
Hattaway said he does not expect the Speaker to press the decision any longer.
“It would be out of character for the speaker to press an issue once the council has made its decision,” he said.
Bergeron and Chassaniol said they would accept their positions if UCFY decides to keep their appointments.
“I hope the council reaffirms the selection,” Chassaniol said.
Busada said he will file an injunction with the Trial Court if the council reaffirms their selection.