Constitutional rights of students compromised

By Staff

We the editors of the Griffon News, in order to form a more perfect Student Union, establish justice by providing our readers the facts that are necessary to adequately develop an opinion about any matter addressed.

After numerous interviews and research into the controversy surrounding the Student Government Association and its three constitutions, we determined that the 2005 constitution is the valid constitution, since it was the only one approved by the administration and voted on by the full student body. Because that constitution mandates elected presidential and vice presidential candidates take office within two weeks, the president and vice president who were recently voted in by the student body should have taken office Dec. 3, two weeks following the Nov. 18-19 election.

When the previous Natalie Bailey and Luke Herrington administration made changes to the Constitution, they made sure to have the student body vote to approve the changes made, a vote which is required to ratify modifications to the constitution. These changes, which were not widely publicized, granted the Bailey/Herrington administration a third semester in office by moving the elections from March to November and thus a third semester of free and reduced tuition. However, the university administration never approved this 2006 constitution, which resulted in a great amount of confusion and hampered their ability to get things done. When current president Harold Callaway and vice president Jennifer Kohler took office on Dec. 3, 2007, two weeks after being elected, they seemed to have known the importance of fixing the constitutional mess, but instead of reverting back to the valid 2005 constitution, they made changes to the 2005 constitution to create a third document. This newest version was approved by SGA’s Senate on Sept. 15, 2008. While Callaway/Kohler seemed to be on top of things at the start of the semester, they lost that momentum along the way. Instead of immediately submitting the constitution to Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Joseph Bragin, they waited until Nov. 5 to give a final draft to him, too late for him to review and approve it and for it to be placed on the November ballot. Since the constitution was not approved by Western’s administration in time for the entire student body to vote and approve it in November, this third document is invalid as well.

This document contains a clause preventing the newly-elected president and vice president from taking office until April, giving Callaway/Kohler–the main authors of the constitutional changes–a third semester of full/half tuition paid for out of student funds.
Callaway claims the Provost approved the departures from the constitution prior to the November elections and was advised that a student body approval in November was not necessary. If indeed this is true and not a misunderstanding, such advice from Western administration would be troubling, to say the least, especially since it allows the president and vice president to serve a semester for which they were not elected to serve. This is not how constitutions and democracies work.

There is only one fair solution that obeys the laws put forth by the 2005 Constitution, the only valid constitution that governs the SGA. In order to establish justice, the Callaway/Kohler administration must resign to allow Joshua Todd and Ernest Chamblee to take the reins of the association as stated in Article II Section 3 of the 2005 Constitution, “The inauguration of the successful block (of election candidates) shall be within two (2) weeks after the final election.” Once in office, the Todd/Chamblee administration will then be responsible for any changes wished to be made to the Constitution. This administration will first need to approve any changes through Senate and Western’s administration before it can be put up to the entire student body for a vote. Only after it is approved by the first two parties can the student body, if it is willing, decide that changes should be made and that the candidates are allowed a third semester to change the inauguration and office cycle.

The idea to align the yearly budget with each SGA administration and allow overlap time for incumbents to transition into their new offices with current officials is in the best interest of the students and the University. But the student body can not ignore SGA’s clear disobedience of its most fundamental document. All student organizations are required by SGA to create a constitution when they are established and to live up to the rules mandated by that constitution, yet now SGA is disobeying its own constitution.
We are asking you, the student body, to make a stand against those who have wronged and to not back down until everything is put right.

When the president of the United States is sworn in, he/she pledges:
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Likewise, Callaway and Kohler have an obligation to adhere to the only valid constitution of the SGA, which this case is the 2005 version. As a result of their neglect in not ensuring the new constitution was ratified, they must pay the price by giving up office–and the accompanying tuition benefits–of this next semester and allow Todd and Chamblee their opportunity to make legitimate changes.

Far greater prices have been paid in the name of preserving constitutions.