STAFF EDIT: Righting a wrong

Boston University Student Union President Matt Seidel’s decision to forgo the rules of his own constitution at the General Assembly meeting last week appears to be coming back to haunt him, and deservedly so.’ The Union has made several missteps this year, but none greater than Seidel’s act of willfully ignoring the rules. Now the Union Cabinet is considering a censure of their president, and there are whisperings of impeachment.’ The extreme step of removing Seidel from office is unnecessary and wouldn’t accomplish anything, but it is imperative that the Union Cabinet takes this opportunity to show Seidel and the rest of the Union that what he did was unacceptable, and must never happen again.

The Daily Free Press has nothing personal against Seidel, but as president, he is the face of the Union, and the buck stops with him.’ When committee leaders aren’t doing their jobs and GA members are consistently failing to show up for meetings, it reflects badly on the president.’ The vice president, secretary and treasurer bear equal responsibility for allowing this to happen.

If anything, Seidel’s efforts to move things along quickly have had the opposite effect.’ The Union can’t immediately start dealing with important issues such as reforming the College of Arts and Sciences advising system and instituting a more informative Boston University Collaborative Degree Program website. Instead, they have to deal with this misconduct on behalf of the president.’ It might seem more convenient to simply move on, but Seidel knowingly violated his own rules, and this shameful action cannot just be ignored.

Any talk of impeachment, however, is premature.’ There is no reason to believe that Seidel’s mistake was anything more than a serious error in judgment as opposed to a malicious act.’ Seidel has plenty to be frustrated about, given the lack of significant progress that has been made this year.’ ‘ It was blatant disrespect toward the constitution to be sure, but not quite serious enough to warrant a removal from office.’ Also, Vice President Paula Griffin, who is next in line should Seidel ever be forced from office, agreed to move forward with the meeting despite failing to meet quorum.’ Union members will just have to wait a few short weeks before they get to elect a whole new leadership slate, one that will hopefully not treat the constitution so carelessly.

If there is to be any chance of having a successful second semester, Seidel and the rest of the executive board aren’t the only members who need to step it up.’ The GA members have not been living up to their responsibilities either.’ Attendance among GA members has been a problem since the beginning of the semester, and is clearly still unresolved.’ GA members need to remember that they are the only voice for thousands of students, and must take their duties more seriously.’ Seidel and the rest of Union’s leaders have to start putting pressure on GA members to show up and do their jobs.

To officially reprimand Seidel for his mistake is the right course of action.’ An example must be made to ensure that no future president thinks he is above the Union’s constitution.’ No student leader should ever have that much power.’ But at the same time, those who vote to censure their president need to examine their own behavior.’ Nobody should have stood idly by when the Union’s constitution was ignored.’ But then again, it’s hard to speak up when you aren’t at the meeting in the first place.

If Seidel had simply called off the meeting and rescheduled it after it became obvious that quorum could not be reached, the Union would not be in this predicament.’ Proposing to complete the voting via email was a lame attempt to make it appear as though the rules were being followed.’ Without a majority of GA members present, there should never have been any votes, end of story. But the decision to violate the constitution was made, and now he must face the consequences for it.’ In censuring Seidel, the Union will make it clear that this kind of behavior will never be tolerated and that leaders will always be held accountable for their actions.’ Anything less would be a disservice to the student body and would keep the Union under a cloud of corruption.