SGA rules Debate/Mock Trial petition null and void

After 300 UMKC students petitioned for a vote to secure funding for the Debate and Mock Trial teams, the Student Government Association (SGA) voted the petition null and void.

SGA president Sean McClain and president pro tempore LaDonna McCullough voiced concerns about the legitimacy of the petition.

"The person that was election director at the time was going around having people sign the petition and she really shouldn't have been doing that," McCullough said.

McCullough was referring to former election director Bridgett Johnson. McCullough expressed concerns that as election director, Johnson was not allowed to gather signatures or present a petition at odds with a decision made by the SGA.

McClain proposed Johnson's conflict of interest was a violation of the University of Missouri (UM) System Collected Rules and Regulations.

McCullough said Article VIII, Section G. of the SGA Constitution and Section 12 of the SGA Election Code included provisions voiding the petition.

"The election director is hired by the executive board which makes them a member of the Senate, an ex-officio member of the Senate," McCullough said. "As an officer, as a senator, you cannot initiate a petition, you cannot submit the petition. The election director at the time, Bridgett Johnson, is the one who submitted the petition. … That therefore makes the petition null and void because it is unethical and per this election code it can be grounds for impeachment."

Though she alleged the election director is an ex-officio member of the SGA, McCullough provided no evidence from the SGA Constitution or election code to support this assertion. She stated that as an employee of the SGA, the election director cannot participate in a petition as Johnson did.

However, no member of the SGA presented language from the constitution stating any restrictions for employees or ex-officio members of SGA. Neither classification appears anywhere in the constitution.

The final vote was 8-5, with 7 abstentions.

The petition was circulated by members of the Debate and Mock Trial teams. It asked students to support a referendum proposing one of three options: to fund the teams by a separate fee of $2.50 per student per semester; to not fund them by a separate fee; or to re-allow them to approach the Student Activity Fee Committee for funds.

McCullough's mother, Donna Strickland, executive staff assistant in the Office of Diversity, was a member of the gallery and advised the SGA when time was yielded.

"Because if your by-laws state that your election director cannot be a part of the process by taking a petition around, then the petition is null and void," Strickland said. "So what do your by-laws state? And what do your rules say regarding the election director?"

According to McClain, Strickland acts as a parliamentarian to the SGA and taught them Robert's Rule of Order. McClain said Strickland holds no official position with the SGA.

During a 10-minute recess to review the constitution and election code, McClain and Strickland exited the room. Several times during the meeting, Strickland spoke when time was not yielded, conversing with her daughter and other members of the executive board.

Johnson defended the attack on her ethics and the petition's 300 student signers.

"Because you think my ethics are bad, you cannot hold me to your ethics when there is nothing in the by-laws," Johnson said. "As the election director I was not collecting signatures. As the president of the Debate team, I was collecting signatures. Take into account all the 300 signatures that were collected on campus … to categorize it all null and void is na've."

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Development Paul Shang also advised the SGA to consider the wishes of those who signed the petition.

"I'm not even going to ask or say what I think is the right thing to do," Shang said. "We do have a collection of signatures. I'm going to ask you … to do the right thing. Think about why this petition was created, what the issues are, the fact that the signatures have been collected."

Strickland advised the SGA to look up their regulations regarding ethics.

"There is a conflict of interest there," she said. "You shouldn't be forced into doing something if it is not in line with what your constitution and by-laws say just because someone says you have to."

Students who signed the petition were not happy with the SGA's decision to void the petition.

"I don't get how her role as election director has anything to do with a petition for the Debate and Mock Trial teams," said sophomore Carrie Patton, music education. "Whatever the case may be, I just hope that the Debate and Mock Trial teams get funding somehow."

Jessica Newill, third-year law student, said the fact that a petition was necessary was evidence of the "sick and sad state of mind of campus leaders."

"The fact that the senate would blatantly disregard the wishes of the students, and would deny the campus the right to vote on what they would like to happen with Debate and Mock Trial, shows the senate's rampant disregard for the democratic process," she said. "The grounds that the senate used to void the petition are not founded in any logic and the senate does not have the authority to void petitions. Even if the petition was done in an unethical manner, which it was not, the senate should still allow students to vote on issues of such grave importance rather than substituting their own ill advised and biased judgments."

mhenderson@unews.com