At the first Student Assembly meeting of the term last night, an Assembly representative accused president Nicole Artzer '94 of making unconstitutional appointments to her executive committee.
Representative Grant Bosse '94 demanded the formation of an ad hoc committee on procedure to investigate the constitutionality of Artzer's appointments.
Bosse also proposed that the ad hoc committee discuss rules of order for the Assembly this term and how to change the constitution to incorporate changes to the Assembly's standing committee structure proposed by Artzer last spring.
"There are some major procedural questions that need to be addressed before we can move on to the other business of the Assembly," Bosse said.
The general Assembly approved Bosse's motion by a vote of 10 to two with four members abstaining.
Bosse said many of Artzer's executive committee appointments were not elected to the Assembly by the student body in the spring, and that this violates the Assembly's constitution.
But the constitution does not specifically require members of the executive committee to have been elected to the general Assembly.
Each year, the Assembly president hand-picks the executive committee, which decides what issues the Assembly should discuss.
Only two of Artzer's executive committee appointments were elected to the general Assembly last spring. The others are student leaders from a variety of campus organizations.
During the campaign last year she pledged to create a more representative executive committee by including leaders from the Greek system and other groups of large constituencies.
The constitution states, "The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and chairs of all standing committees of the Assembly."
According to the constitution, the president has the power to "appoint the chair(s) of the Assembly Committees in consultation with the Vice-President."
A ruling by the ad hoc committee against Artzer's appointments could effectively dissolve the current executive committee and might cripple the Assembly in its early days.
The appointments in question are Class of 1996 President Brendan Doherty; Mitch Jacobs '94; Panhellenic Council President Rachel Perri '94; Class of 1995 President Tim Rodenberger; Jesse Russell '96, Tyrone Thomas '94 and Mark Waterstraat '94.
The question is "whether or not the president has an obligation to appoint from within the Assembly or not," representative Matthew Berry '94 said.
Artzer said she was certain she acted constitutionally. "They're making a lot out of what's just not there," she said. "It's my prerogative to interpret the constitution ... I felt this was best for the entire student body."
But Artzer said that if the ad hoc committee does void certain members of the executive committee, "we will be looking at the at-large members ... but I can't imagine that happening."
Officially it takes three weeks of attending regular meetings for a student who files an application to become a voting Assembly representative. Artzer said all of her appointees have filed or are planning on filing applications.
At last night's meeting the Assembly also elected Linda Albers '95 as secretary and John Steiner '94 as treasurer.
The ad hoc committee will be selected Sunday night by the four members of the executive committee with voting privileges those who were elected to the Assembly last spring and Vice President Steve Costalas '94.
"I don't think this is going to affect the Assembly that much," Costalas said. "It's always helpful to clear up any political problems early so it won't detract from what matters."
