In a heated and at times disorganized session, the Duke Student Government Senate decided not to take direct action against the Duke College Republicans, which has come under fire since the impeachment of former club chair Justin Robinette, a junior.
At their final meeting of the academic year Wednesday night, senators passed the annual budget for 2010-2011 and considered an amendment to suspend the College Republicans’ charter, rights and privileges because the impeachment violated the group’s bylaw and because a graduate student sat on the executive board, violating the group’s charter. The Senate also considered an amendment to direct the organization to make institutional changes including producing a new constitution and changing election procedures before Oct. 1 or “face punitive action.”
But after a lengthy debate surrounding what was called “the most important vote of our lives,” senators passed a resolution mandating the Student Organization Finance Committee to ensure that all chartered groups stipulate election procedures and non-discrimination policies in their constitutions. SOFC will also ensure that group elections are “free, formal and publicized” and be conducted after their constitutions are approved.
“It is a response to [College Republicans’] actions, but it is not placing a judgment of guilt either way,” said athletics and campus services senator Ben Bergmann, who is president of the Duke Democrats and presented the updated resolution to the Senate. “We can agree that all of these points are worth making. It will ensure that groups in the future do not have the problems that the College Republicans have had this past year. What is alleged to have occurred should not happen.”
Former College Republicans vice chair Cliff Satell, a junior who supported Robinette, said he backed the resolution to suspend College Republicans because the group is “clearly in violation of the rules.”
“I’m a Republican. A lot of people would be shocked that I would come out against that group—this is against my interest,” Satell said. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think this was very serious or if these accusations were incredibly serious.”
Although the consideration to suspend the College Republicans’ charter was based on the group’s alleged institutional missteps, many senators noted that the suspension was based on Robinette’s claim that he was impeached because he is gay.
“The idea that a grad student was on the exec board is not why this is happening,” said Bergmann, a junior. “We should recognize the elephant in the room.”
During the debate, academic affairs senator Danny Lewin, a senior and former Chronicle columnist, said he opposed taking action against the College Republicans because they violated SOFC rules. He added that he found other SOFC violations from other groups that the Senate should consider if it were to punish the College Republicans.
Even though debate was lengthy and many of the comments senators and students made received outspoken feedback from the galley, Executive Vice President Gregory Morrison, a junior, pushed for debate to continue.
Chief Justice Matt Straus, a sophomore, said he opposed the Senate’s rehashing of a situation the Judiciary ruled on Tuesday morning. In a 3-to-1 decision, the Judiciary ruled that the College Republicans did not discriminate against Robinette in impeaching him. Straus stressed the length of time the justices debated the case.
“The Judiciary’s decisions are final. I believe you are erring here,” Straus said. “For the Senate to go back and rerule on something that my justices debated for 15 hours—it upsets me that you are doing so.”
The Senate also passed a resolution condemning The Daily Tar Heel for its April 18 coverage of Robinette’s case. The resolution states that the publication refused to withhold the story and give Robinette 24 hours to discuss the situation with his family.
“The Daily Tar Heel showed a lack of integrity and professionalism by refusing to withhold a story written about Justin Robinette,” the resolution reads.
In other business:
After discussing the annual budget for the past two meetings, senators approved it after increasing the Undergraduate Publications Board’s allocation. Senators increased the publication board’s initial allotment of $80,500 to $100,172 because the board will not be able to apply for programming funding next year.
In a significant change two weeks ago, SOFC lowered most groups’ annual budget allocations and instead tripled the programming fund for the upcoming year, a change that partially inspired increasing funding for the publications board.
“The Undergraduate Publications Board is an established bucket group, we have seen how they work,” said junior Will Passo, vice president for Durham and regional affairs. “This is their budget for the end of the year, period.”
In total, the Senate allocated $451,358.16 for the 2010-2011 annual budget, leaving $359,254.84 for the programming fund.
DSG president-elect Mike Lefevre, a junior and current chief of staff, also announced his cabinet for next year, noting that he created five new posts. Among the 12 positions is junior Andrew Schreiber, who will serve as chief of staff, and junior John Reynolds, who will serve as head line monitor.
Senators also passed a statute establishing an archive of judicial rulings. Lewin, who submitted the statute, said the rulings should be accessible because of the prominence of recent Judiciary decisions.
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