ASUO President Emily McLain will not be removed from office despite not fulfilling her duties as president, according to a decision of the ASUO Constitution Court released Monday.
A grievance filed on April 8 by University student Caroline Beranek charged McLain with not fulfilling her duties when she did not appoint a student to an open seat on the EMU Board of Directors within 30 days, as is mandated by the ASUO Constitution. The position was filled Dec. 2.
The court’s majority decided to not remove McLain because she has just six days remaining in office. Instead, McLain will not receive her last stipend of $550. The case was pending before the court for six weeks.
McLain said Monday that the University considers ASUO stipends scholarships, and administrators are concerned about withholding one because “there is no current memory in the ASUO of a stipend being withheld before.”
McLain said she will make sure the court’s ruling is enforced, though “it’s going to make paying rent kind of hard.”
Associate Justice Andrea Ly, in the majority opinion joined by Associate Justices Karl Mourfy and Ogechi Amadi, wrote that McLain could not be held responsible for the vacancy if no students applied for the position. However, McLain did not advertise the position until six days after the 30 day deadline, according to the opinion.
McLain called this a “factual error.” She said while she had not been notified the seat would likely be vacated, an advertisement in the Emerald before she took office listed the seat as open. Another ad at the beginning of fall term also advertised the seat, McLain said.
Ly’s opinion cited as precedent the removal of former Student Senate President Sara Hamilton last year for not fulfilling her duties when she did not e-mail agendas 48 hours before Senate meetings for three consecutive weeks. Ly wrote that McLain also deserved to be punished for not fulfilling her duties.
“To be clear, the punishment would have been different had this case been brought to the Court’s attention a month earlier,” the opinion states.
Con Court Chief Justice Shon Bogar dissented. He wrote the charges were political and should have been dealt with through the political process. Bogar would have joined the majority had the case been brought in November with the intention of compelling McLain to fill the position, he wrote.
“A complaint for non-fulfillment of duties should be raised when a duty is unfulfilled,” Bogar wrote, “not held in reserve as part of a political, retributive game plan played long after the problem is corrected.”
McLain said she agreed with the Bogar’s reasoning. “I think the court making the decision on something that was fixed months and months ago is really politicizing the judicial branch,” she said.
Senate President Athan Papailiou said the case “speaks for the increased need for reform” in the court, including measures to prevent “ghost grievances” such as Beranek’s. Beranek is not involved in student government and has not responded to any media inquiries.
Papailiou, who will serve as chief-of-staff to ASUO President-elect Sam Dotters-Katz, said he would also like the court to be required to issue decisions in a more timely manner so the ASUO is not stalled by pending grievances.
Dotters-Katz said Monday that removing McLain from office “would not have been the best thing for the student body” when the two administrations are in a period of transition.
“I think these non-fulfillment grievances have become a political weapon of choice and it serves only to undermine the legitimacy of the entire student government,” Dotters-Katz said.
[email protected]