Duke Student Government Chief Justice and Trinity junior Josh Schaffer ruled Thursday that DSG President and Trinity senior Lino Marrero misrepresented his beer on points proposal to the legislature as an executive order "when it clearly was not." Schaffer issued his decision after Trinity junior Sarah Mitchell, DSG executive vice president, filed a complaint Oct. 7 challenging the constitutionality of the executive order Marrero had said he used to present the proposal to the alcohol policy review committee.
Schaffer ruled that Marrero did not in fact use an executive order because he had not obtained the proper authority to do so.
"Duke Student Government leaders failed to follow the constitutional and statutory guidelines regarding executive orders," Schaffer wrote in his four-page judgment. "No such executive order existed in the past, nor does one exist now."
Although Marrero will receive no formal punishment, Schaffer's judgment amounts to a "censuring" for his misrepresentation of the proposal.
"Marrero is being publicly reprimanded for inaccurately representing his personal policy as the policy of DSG," Schaffer explained in his judgment. "He should be more careful not to make this same mistake in the future."
Marrero and Trinity senior Jason Barclay, DSG chief of staff, were unable to produce all the documentation requested by Schaffer, including the minutes of the cabinet meeting at which the alleged vote on the executive order took place-as asserted by Marrero in an Oct. 8 interview-and written evidence of the existence of an executive order.
Marrero declined to comment specifically on Schaffer's ruling but said he believes that Mitchell levied the charges against him "for political reasons."
Mitchell, however, said she believes the fundamental issue in this case, above all, is the need to preserve the system of checks and balances in DSG in order to ensure a basic fairness.
"This is about being representative," Mitchell wrote in a statement addressed to the legislature. "Passing policy through the legislature is not an inconsequential, time-consuming activity. It is an activity that is essential to assure that the student voice is heard."
Although Marrero acknowledges that he approached the alcohol policy review committee without legislative backing, he maintains that he did so simply as an undergraduate student and not as DSG president-therefore, he emphasized, he had no reason to use an executive order.
"I was simply doing my job. Everything I did before [the first meeting of the legislature] I was doing as me," he said in an interview following Schaffer's ruling. "If it was executive order, I would have gone through the proper channels."
At the Oct. 2 DSG general body meeting, however, Marrero told the legislature that he used "an executive order... [to get] beer on points option at Devil's Den."
After Mitchell filed her complaint with Schaffer, Marrero and Barclay filed a motion calling for the dismissal of the charges on the grounds that Mitchell based her accusations on a false premise: that Marrero and Barclay-who claim they were operating without DSG affiliation-had attempted to pass the proposal as a DSG policy under executive order. Schaffer denied the motion for dismissal Tuesday.
"If someone files a complaint, they have the right to have their complaint heard," Schaffer said in an interview about Mitchell's request for judicial review. "[Marrero and Barclay] wanted to see how I was going to rule on their motion to figure out how to better prepare for their response.... Once [Marrero] publicly misrepresented the truth, that's where I have a problem."
The beer on points controversy arose when Mitchell disputed the validity of the executive order Marrero and Barclay said they used to proceed with their beer on points proposal. She based the complaint on three grounds:
¥ cabinet members never voted to approve the use of the executive order;
¥ Marrero and Barclay did not present the alleged executive order to the legislature in the form of a bylaw or resolution for another vote, as mandated by statutory procedure;
¥ assuming the executive order existed, Marrero and Barclay made alterations to the proposal while the legislature was in session, thereby rendering use of an executive order both illegal and unnecessary.
In Marrero and Barclay's response to Schaffer, the two assert that they never held a meeting of the cabinet at which its members voted to approve their use of an executive order. But in an Oct. 8 interview with The Chronicle, however, Marrero said the cabinet did indeed vote to approve the alleged executive order during the summer.
At the Oct. 15 DSG general body meeting, the legislature passed a resolution opposing certain structural requirements to the proposal supporting the sale of beer on points at the Devil's Den.
In light of Schaffer's decision and the resolution passed by the legislature, Marrero and Barclay said they intend to proceed with their scheduled meeting with Vice President for Student Affairs Janet Dickerson Oct. 20.
"We'll discuss the beer on points proposal as it was originally intended, and we will also convey the resolution," Barclay said. "The proposal has already been passed by the alcohol policy review committee in its original form, though, so now it's Janet Dickerson's decision what to approve, regardless of the resolution."
Marrero, Barclay and Trinity senior Blair Greber-Raines, DSG attorney general, who was also named as a respondent in Schaffer's investigation, said that although they are content with the ruling, they are still unsure whether they will file an appeal. Should they do so, the case will then be heard by the other six justices on the Judiciary. In the meantime, Marrero said, he and Barclay are ready to "move on with our agenda."
Barclay also criticized Schaffer for handling the case in a public forum. "If a judicial complaint is going to be filed and a ruling made, it doesn't need to be done in the press," Barclay said.
In response, Schaffer cited Barclay's public position, maintaining that "everything [he] does is public record."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.