By Jaime Hoerbelt
In the same meeting in which he was appointed to the Student Government Association Elections Commission on Tuesday, SGA Sen. Peter DiSilvio, a senior political science major,stepped down from the commission in protest. His almost immediate resignation was in response to a dispute over appointments to the influential commission.
“I’m kind of disappointed he did it, but it’s his own prerogative to step down if he felt as strongly as he did,” said Kate Legnetti, the SGA vice president and a junior political science and international relations dual major.
The approval and swearing in of the commission is a major issue for the senators. The Elections Commission is responsible for regulating the SGA elections held every April. According to the SGA constitution, the commission is the “sole judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its members.” The constitution states: “the membership of [the Elections Commission] is to be determined by the Rules Committee chair and president, subject to the ratification by a majority vote in the senate.” The members of the Elections Commission must be students graduating in the spring semester when elections are held. The Rules Committee chair, Jared Berry, a sophomore music education major, and the president, Brent Weitzberg, a sophomore political science major, chose the appointments, but some senators were not satisfied with their decisions.
“When Brent and I were deciding on who to nominate for the Commission, we wanted an extremely diverse commission,” Berry said. “One of the ways we wanted to make sure this happened is by not nominating every single senator in Student Government. This would create a huge imbalance, and originally, Brent and I wanted a commission that would be dominated by non-SGA members.”
“If it was more evenly divided among the seniors on SGA it would have been another story,” said senior SGA member and Student Affairs Committee Chairwoman Andrea Schwartz regarding DiSilvo’s protest to the appointments.
Rather than the original plan, those appointed to the commission were all SGA members: Comptroller Julia Hisayi and Senators Shellie Smallberg and DiSilvio.
“There was a certain group of senators who were kind of a pack. They usually tend to back one another,” said Weitzberg. “It’s unfortunate that he stepped down but I think the committee will run as smoothly as it has been. These people can all hold their own.”
Before the senators had a chance to debate, DiSilvio, a senior political science major, voiced his opposition to the appointments. He said he felt it would be a “disservice to the commission” not to appoint Schwartz. DiSilvio passionately stated that Andrea was an upstanding member of the SGA, having served on it since her freshman year, and was the “hardest working individual [he] had ever encountered.”
DiSilvio’s opinion began a debate about procedure among the senators. Senator Carlos Cruz, the Fund-raising Committee chairman, pointed out that an amendment could not be made to the SGA constitution in order to force the Rules Committee chair and president to appoint someone of the SGA’s choosing. The only option for the senators to oppose the decision was to vote against the appointments and hope that the next appointment list included Schwartz or someone else who they preferred.
However, once a senator is voted against, he or she will not be reconsidered for appointment. A moderated caucus was held to confer with the Parliamentarian, Pat MdDonald, as to the accuracy of Cruz’s statements on policy. The statements were found to be correct and a vote was held.
Ultimately, all three nominees were voted on to the commission, although there are four still pending a vote.
This was not the end of the issue for the senate. The tension among the senators was obvious throughout the rest of the night and the conflict was brought up again as meeting neared adjournment.DiSilvio reiterated his opinion that Schwartz was a most deserving candidate for appointment and then announced that he was stepping down from the commission in protest of Schwartz’s denial of position. “The way [Jared and Brent] did [the appointments] is not the way they’re saying they did it,” said Schwartz. “I’m the only one who has been on [the commission] for all four years who is not on it.”
Several other SGA members voiced concerns relating to the tension this matter caused. Senators urged each other to be polite, respectful and to always maintain decorum, even when faced with issues that may be personal in nature.
“Nothing personal played into choosing these people,” Weitzberg said. “I feel very confident in the people we chose.”
SGA senators tense after Peter DiSilvio stepped down from the Election’s Commission in protest over the appointments, which occurred earlier in the meeting. (Jaime Hoerbelt)