After an hour and a half of discussion and debate last night, two Student Assembly members walked out of the meeting and incapacitated the body from taking a stand on the proposed meal plan changes.
Earlier in the meeting the Assembly voted against holding a student-wide referendum about the proposed changes, which would eliminate the current mandatory freshmen plan and require all students to pay a $70 fee instead.
The referendum resolution was defeated by a 17-13 vote primarily because members felt the general student body does not have enough information about the issue.
Members also felt that the Assembly, as a representative body of the students, should take its own position rather than turn to the opinions of the student body. To hold a referendum, they argued, would undermine the Assembly's ability as a governing institution.
But after the Assembly voted that it should accept responsibility for taking a stand, Alex Morgan '95 and Gabe Galletti '98 walked out, depriving the Assembly of the quorum necessary to pass a resolution.
Morgan said she left because she feels the meal plan is one of the biggest issues facing the Assembly and "having merely a quorum there to vote on it was an affront to the students who we're supposed to represent."
Last night the Assembly needed 23 voting members present to establish a quorum, which is 50 percent of its membership and is required to pass a resolution, according to Assembly Secretary John Honovich '97.
Galletti, who had voted in favor of the referendum earlier in the evening, said he left the meeting because "it's not fair for the Student Assembly to vote on an issue with only one half of the people there."
Anna Ochoa '97 left the meeting a few minutes earlier which eliminated the quorum, but she said that she would only be gone for 10 minutes. Several other members left earlier in the meeting for a variety of reasons.
"Two members walked out of this meeting because they did not want to vote on a resolution and be responsible to the body that voted for them," Assembly President Danielle Moore '95 said in an interview after the meeting.
The referendum resolution, sponsored by Honovich and Ochoa, proposed a vote of the entire student body to be held Nov. 17 in dining facilities. The Assembly planned to ask the Green Key Society to help conduct the referendum.
Assembly Vice-President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 urged members to vote against the referendum and later said she was "proud of the Assembly in voting not to have a referendum. We were elected for a purpose."
Supporters of the resolution said the referendum was a good way to get student input about an issue that greatly concerns them.
But other members argued that only the Assembly had enough information to accurately address the issue.
Assembly members received 10 pages of information regarding the new meal plan, Grace Chionuma '96 said. The student voters will be uninformed unless they get those pages, she said.
After the referendum resolution was defeated, the Assembly discussed whether to wait until next week to vote on the proposed changes and voted 12 to 11 not to postpone a decision. Three members abstained.
But the meeting was quickly adjourned after the Assembly lost its quorum.
"Leaving in the middle of a meeting to deliberately strip the assembly of its quorum is reprehensible. These people were elected to do a job, and immature shenanigans like this, instead of working within the framework of the assemble is shameful and questions their ability to govern," said Brandon del Pozo '96, Assembly communications committee chair, in an interview after the meeting.
Sichitiu said, "It's potentially a dangerous political statement to leave in order for a motion to be passed."
Last week the Assembly passed a resolution requiring attendance at meetings.
Other business last night included discussing meeting procedure. Sichitiu said that members must not interrupt each other or speak out of turn. If members continue such behavior after receiving a warning they will be asked to leave the meeting, she said.
About a dozen students attended an Assembly-sponsored forum before the meeting with Hanover Police and Safety and Security to discuss alcohol policies and the recent incidents in the River cluster of dormitories.
