A stalemate on a vote prevented the Student Government Association from adding a senator to their ranks on Sept. 11.
The senate tried to hold an executive session to discuss the confirmation of a probationary senator, Robby Baker, computer science sophomore, as per its bylaws.
In executive session, non-members leave the meeting, and SGA is only allowed to discuss confirmation proceedings and disciplinary proceedings, or to have a private address from the SGA’s faculty adviser.
James Bonsall, SGA treasurer and business management sophomore, didn’t get the senate’s approval for an executive session. Richard Young, SGA press secretary and political science senior, said he didn’t think SGA needed to conduct any of its business out of the public.
After the executive session motion died, the senate voted to forego the SGA’s bylaws to discuss adding the new senator.
Jeff Martin, chief justice and business management senior, said the senate didn’t think through their vote before it was made.
“The senate threw out the bylaws for 15 minutes, I think that should raise some red flags,” Martin said.
Martin said he was frustrated with the senate for not thinking about what they had done. He said they meant to suspend the executive session rules, not all of the bylaws.
Martin said the executive session rules were written to make sure anything said about a probationary senator stays within SGA.
“If bad stuff comes up, we can handle it if that person becomes irate,” Martin said. “Not that it happens, but if it does, it’s just a safety measure.”
James Bonsall said he thought Martin was out of line for calling out the senate during the meeting.
Flo Gonya, SGA president and general studies senior, said she didn’t think Martin was out of line.
“I don’t think they really understood what they were doing,” Gonya said. “It was one of those things that was not well thought-out.”
Gonya said the senate needs to be more careful about how they approach business in the senate, and that Martin was within his duties
“He was right,” Gonya said. “They suspended the bylaws, and they weren’t specific. He warned them that they were operating without the guidelines of their own bylaws, and that’s dangerous.”
The senate voted to reinstate the bylaws for the remainder of the meeting. Baker was not voted in or out of the senate, and will be considered at their next meeting on Sept. 18.
Martin said he doesn’t expect the senate to look to him before every vote, but would like to see more training on the SGA constitution and bylaws.
He said previous SGA justices gave quizzes on the constitution and bylaws to the senators to make sure they understood them.
Martin said he planned on looking into similar measures to educate new and current senators on the constitution and bylaws.
Gonya said she thought the measures would be a good idea.
“I think we need a little more training,” Gonya said.
Martin also said there are also amendments to the bylaws that SGA’s judicial office is reviewing.
Gonya said she hopes the senate and the judicial office will be able to change the bylaws and the constitution before the next SGA election in the spring.
During Gonya’s report to the senate, she said she hopes to organize a demonstration against Barnes and Noble for not posting International Standard Book Numbers on the IUS Bookstore’s Web site.
Barnes and Noble’s failure to post ISBNs was mentioned at SGA’s Sept. 4 meeting.
Bonsall said Barnes and Noble is still restricting access to ISBNs from students to keep their share of profits.
“This is something that’s been going on for a year and a half now, and we should all be pretty POed now,” Bonsall said.
Bonsall said students can order books when they register classes, but the ISBNs are still not posted.
Gonya said she would work with the All University Student Association to talk about an IU-wide boycott of the bookstores.
“I’m sure other campuses are just as upset about this as we are,” Gonya said.
Gonya wants to have everything for the demonstration organized by Oct. 17. Representatives from Barnes and Noble are supposed to address the Faculty Senate on that date.
By JEROD CLAPP
Senior Editor
jlclapp@ius.edu