from JIIO Horse-’5‘ Mouth? Clarifyin
Since the impeachment
of the four council members
last week, there have
been many rumors around Campus and a great many' questions being asked.-
So in order to give every- one the story,I talked to our S.U. President, Gordon Campbell since he was the person who informed the" Council of the impeachments (due to the lack of a j speaker). The big questions were why, how,'and what happens~now.
First of all, Why were the councilors impeached?
"They wereyimpeached by the simple fact that they missed 4 council meetings . and it's Stated insthew ‘ Constitution that anyone‘ who misses four meetings is immediately impeached and a date for a by—elec— tion set". ‘ *
Is there anyway in which they could be re-instated?
" Yes they can be reinstated by a referendum and in
order to hold a referendum the constitution requires that either 10% of the student body petition the President of the S.U. or
2/3 of council vote in
favor of holding 3 refer—’ endum".
Why is there a necessity for by-elections since the general election is being held at the same time? . j ’
Again, its the constit— ution, it requires that by—eleCtions be held~ ‘ upon a councilors impeach— ment or resignation. The terms of office of those- impeached runs until May 1 st. and those elected in the general election 0f Feb 19 do not take office until May 1 st 80 therefore the persons elected in the general Elections cannot fill the vacancies. ‘ were there ever councilors im eached before? ‘
"Yes, a class president
was impeached at the end' of last year's spring
term for the same reasons of lack of attendance.There was no by—election held Abecause the term was very nearly up. It was done
as a matter of principle".
Are the persons impeached eligible: to run in the ‘ by-elections and/or the
general election? "They are «eligible to .
run in both".
Do you feel they should run again?
" If they feel they have
1 been done an injustice by
the constitution then they should run again. I don't feel they have been done an injustice by the Cons— titution. The article which impeached,them does not allow for excuses for missing meetings. They
may well haVe had legit- imate reason for missing meetings and may have been councilors, but even though it's not their fault they missed four meetings the fact remains that they - ~ are failing to represent their electors./If they
do run‘again and people feel that they will make good councilors then by all means vote for them. But I urge people not
to vote for them out of V .sympathy to the fact that their excuses were not_ listened to."
Impeachment By-electinn
There is a by-Election
for the positions of Vice- President, 1 Arts Rep,
1 Science Rep, and lVEdu- cation Rep.
Nominations,close-on
Wed 12, 1975. The voting will be on Feb 19, along with the General Elections The TERM OF OFFICE IS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE BY ELECTION - ,UNTIL MAY 1 1975.’
Why is attendance so important for council
meetings?
"Attendance is important because if a councilor doesn't attend then he/she can't represent the people who elected’them. The Imost important duty of a councilor is to attend council meetings. If a councilor is impeached it's the students who elected that person who are being short—changed. They are not being repres— entated properly."
Aside from the Constitution
how do you personally feel about this situation
W?
When you consider that
\ there have been only 8
meetings since September
and no more that 12 since the last general election then it seems reasonable
to replace a person that
has missed between 1/3'\
and 1/2 of the total meet— ings that have been called."
Do you feel that the hap— penings of the past few weeks could affect the attitude of students towards the up—coming_ elections?
" It should haVe favorable results in one sense and may have negative results in the other. On the bright side, those who nominate for various positions will better realize that they are running for a position which requires responsib— ility and it should serve to make councilors more concerned about represenfi ting their electors at
the council meetings. 0n the other hand the general student body may feel
that is councilors are
not even concerned enough to attend council meetings then why bother voting in
The Cadre; Tuesday, February 1], 1975, page 5
g flue Impeachment:
the first place. Hopefully people will
respond with a positive
attitude and view the
impeachments as a necessaey' evil for the benefit of a better Student Union."
Well - that's it. Everyone will undoubtly have an opinion on this situation. My opinion is that it's about time that people were chastized for not facing up to the res- ponsibility they earned by being elected to pos—
_itions of responsibility.
I'd like to see more people get their knuckles rapped for slackness in their jobs. After all, here on
rcampus,-it's we students
who end up on the short end of the rope.
"Rumor has it" that Sandy Dunsford celebrated her 21 st in fine fashion. It just so happened that "Liverpool" was called in to help celebrate this » great occasion. Was this from having influence
in high places or just
7coincidence?
listen to “IE FACTS an “All
The Facts which is an open line talk show dealing with controversial issues 'concerning all students. Members of the present
Student Union will be fielding questions from ,students on: - Wednesday Feb 12 Thursday Feb 13
Frida Feb
starting at 6:00 pm. Nominees for office« on next year's Student Union Executive will be on the air on Tuesday Feb 18 th. at 6:00 pm The Facts is a production of CIMN in conjunction with the Student's Action Comm ittee. Press Release from the staff of CIMN