NKU Student Gov't News
From the Kentucky Post"According to interpretation of the SGA Constitution, the (student) Judicial Council had original jurisdiction and if there is an appeal of that decision, the dean of students determines the final outcome," Shanley said. [Shanley is incorrect. And he should know better. I was on the committee that selected him and I know him to be a smarter guy than this... - MATT]
Fegan and the SGA Election Committee pointed out that the SGA Constitution states that the Judicial Council makes final determination of all disputes involving elections.
However, Shanley said that the SGA Constitution also states that Judicial Council decisions can be appealed to the dean of students.
"The dean ruled it was a matter of interpretation of the constitution, not just an interpretation of the election guidelines," said Shanley. [Then the Dean got the ruling wrong, because the Constitution is quite clear on who should be making this decision. - MATT]
"It was the intent of the dean and the administration to ensure fundamental fairness to the right of the entire student body to vote its choice." [I'm sure that was it... This guy shouldn't have even been on the ballot. - MATT]
Matt's Chat
For the purposes of full disclosure, I am a former Chief Justice of the Judicial Council for the Northern Kentucky University Student Government Association. I had a hand in crafting/shaping elements of the Constitution. While the Constitution has changed since my tenure there, I have downloaded the current version and will render my analysis based on that document.The Election Committee and Judicial Council statement/ruling can be found here. The current version of the Consitution can be found here.
In reviewing the Judicial Council ruling and the relevant portions of the Consitution, I can state that the Judicial Council made the correct call. Article IV: Section 3; Subsection D clearly states that the "Judicial Council is the final interpreter of all disputes involving Election Rules and Guidelines." Therefore the appeal made by Mr. Hixon to the Dean of Students is meaningless. And so is the Dean of Students ruling for the same reason.
The issue is this: Article I: Section 1; Subsection A.9 indicates that the candidate for executive office must have served at least one semester "in the Student Senate or Judicial Council." Mr. Hixon served on the executive board and was later impeached having never served in the Senate or the Judiciary prior to filing his candidacy.
The Judicial Council, in a previous ruling, correctly asserted that Mr. Hixon was ineligible. Apparently the Dean of Students thought (the Dean is granted the right to mediate appeals of Judicial Council rulings and Senate actions, but not in this case because of the Constitutional power granted to the JC as "final interpreter.") he had the "power" to reinstate Hixon to the ballot stating that Mr. Hixon had powers to "act as a Senator" when voting. The Constitution clearly states that the Executive Board and the Student Senate are two interrelated but SEPARATE entitites.
There is a history at NKU of administrative interference in Student Government in general and the Judicial Council specifically. That is an entirely different story altogether; one for another time perhaps.
Also, and this is what I suspect the motivation is: there is a fair amount of "Greek" politics involved in Student Government as well. Something I despised when I was there but dealt with as a "GDI" fairly adeptly.
At any rate, I plan to file a letter to President Votruba on the Judicial Council's behalf.
