Student Body President Bobby Mills was escorted out of a Student Senate meeting Wednesday night after a heated debate about a bill.
The bill, which Senators Adam Compton, Jay Dawkins, Brandon McPherson and Robert Waldrup sponsored, stated Student Government’s support of the Association of Student Governments President Cole Jones’ appointment to the Board of Governors, despite his conviction of a misdemeanor.
Supporters of the bill argued that Jones was charged of the misdemeanor before he was elected as ASG president, yet 15 of the 16 UNC system schools supported his appointment.
The bill passed, but Mills was unable to voice his opposition and said he thinks he was purposely blocked from doing so because his opinion was against the bill.
Sen. Matt Potter said he did not see Mills trying to be acknowleged to speak before the debate was closed, but said he thought Mills’ stance on the issue had a lot to do with whether or not he could present his side.
“While I completely disagree with Bobby’s stance on the issue … the reason he was not acknowledged to speak was because he was against the bill,” Potter said.
Mills agreed and said he felt that though he was knowledgeable on the issue, he was not recognized to speak before a motion was called to close the debate because of his stance.
Student Senate President Greg Doucette said Mills did not try to speak until after a motion to end the debate was passed, and that if he really wanted to speak before, he could have gotten a senator to step aside on his behalf and let him speak.
But Mills said that would have called for the entire Senate’s consent, and he therefore did not attempt to do so.
Mills decided to take matters into his own hands after he was denied the opportunity to speak, and he continued to voice his opinion regardless of any repercussions.
“I feel he was speaking out of order and that part of the time, he should have been escorted out of the meeting,” Potter said. “However, I feel that he should have been allowed to speak.”
According to Mills, his opposition to the bill’s support of the ASG president comes from the past history of the presidents. He said when other ASG presidents were convicted of some kind of misdemeanors, they resigned.
Because of the Policies, Rules and Regulations that the University has enforced on all student leaders, Mills said he would have been kicked out of office had he been convicted of a similar misdemeanor.
“He should have appointed someone else until his trial was over, and then expidated his trial,” Mills said. “That may not have been the best move for him, but it would have been for the institution.”
Dawkins, also the sergeant at arms, said he did not think senators tried to purposefully block Mills from speaking.
“The Senate played by the rules,” he said. “Bobby waited too long to speak.”
According to Dawkins, he supported the bill because SG is sending the organization about $32,000 a semester.
“We need to do everything in our power to make sure that organization is effective and our money is not wasted,” he said.
Sen. Alex Carter abstained from voting because he felt the entire issue was too rushed and should have been sent to committee first since most senators did not have previous knowledge of the bill before the meeting.
Doucette, who requested that Dawkins escort Mills out of the meeting, said he was the only observer at the trial from North Carolina and felt that he was knowledgeable enough on the issue to take a stance and did not object to opposing views.
“I’m perfectly comfortable with debate because I was [at the trial],” he said.
According to Doucette, Mills was not allowed to speak because he requested to do so too late.
After Dawkins began to escort Mills from the Senate Chambers, Mills said he was willing to be escorted out, but he would continue talking.
Compton said there was discussion among some senators to block Mills from speaking but that it was not carried out because Mills did not attempt to speak until the middle of the vote when no one was allowed to speak.
