Last night one Student Assembly leader announced her resignation. But it was not the right one.
In his actions, Assembly Secretary John Honovich '97 has shown the students he claims to represent that he should not be a part of their representative body. He has shown the administrators he wants to influence that they cannot respect him. And he has shown the Assembly he says he supports that it cannot trust him.
Honovich's ornery behavior both in and out of Assembly meetings has derailed the Assembly from its mission: to effect change when needed and to represent the student body that elected its members.
In meetings Honovich has shouted over other members, raised his voice at administrators and chanted incessantly that the president and vice president are 'liars;' he has embodied the plague that has sickened the Assembly over the last few years.
Politics cannot be removed from a political body. But petty antics such as his cannot be condoned.
Last week, Honovich sent BlitzMail messages intentionally misrepresenting the leaders of the Assembly to personal blitz lists of several hundred students, therebye disrupting the inner-workings of the Assembly for his own political gain. And in so doing, he has not only ruined his own reputation, but also that of the organization he claims to care so much about.
In an organization that should no doubt incorporate political viewpoints spanning an immeasurable spectrum, tolerance, cooperation and respect are necessary. The difference between good and bad politicians is knowing where to draw the line - and the Assembly cannot stand idly by while Honovich repeatedly crosses it.
The only way the Assembly can hope to regain the respect that Honovich has destroyed is to show the campus that it will not stand for such irresponsible, distracting and disrespectful behavior and that it will stand up against members who use the Assembly as a tool for their own political gain.
