Thursday, April 5, 2012
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Disqualified From Page A1 campaign worker as “any person who actively pursues the election of the ticket.” Stricklin said he considers the former Gold/Harbin campaign’s official endorsement of the Ngo/Richardson ticket as evidence. This endorsement was posted on the Gold/Harbin Facebook page as recent as yesterday. Section V, titled “Campaigning Rules,” states if campaign workers violate any rules the candidates themselves are expected to follow, the ticket they support will “be subject to disciplinary actions… up to and including disqualification for that election.” SG Vice Presidential candidate Patrick Richardson said the ticket filed appeals concerning both decisions yesterday and expect to learn the results by this afternoon. If they win either appeal, the ticket will be considered active again, but a loss of both appeals will continue the current disqualified status. Election Board Chair Aaron Dau said if the Ngo ticket fails to win their appeals, votes applied to the ticket will simply be “discredited.” “It’s an awful thing when
Impeachments From Page A1 current SG Constitution. Spradley refused to comment on the identity of the ineligible members. However, SG President Matt Rubin confirmed Senate Chair Heather Engle is one of those members. Spradley said the Student Judicial Council held a hearing and ruled for her to present this issue to Senate. Spradley asked for Senate to place the impeachment hearings on the evening’s agenda, after which a motion was made and objected to. “I don’t find that it’s very fitting for an adviser to recommend anything that is not supported by the entire student group,” said Senator Tony Bova. Some of the senators were concerned that the Constitution would have to be overridden in order to hold the vote. “I think it’s great that SJC wants to hold people accountable but… because this was not brought up during open floor, it can’t be presented during new business, so I don’t think we should be able to have an impeachment today,” said Senator Ben Lynn. Spradley explained that in the Constitution, impeachment hearings were required to be within a Senate meeting, but time was not specified. One senator asked if the proceedings would take longer than ten minutes.
Gateway From Page A1 He said even though students are off campus, they have all the benefits of being on campus and it will transform the area around campus. “Olde Towne [Apartments] has that garden-variety-feel − this will be very much metropolitan,” Schroeder said. Each unit will include granite countertops and a 42-inch flat screen TV. Cable and internet are included in rent and the only bills students are responsible for outside of the lease will be water and electric. “Students sign a twelve
the student voice goes unheard, but there’s nothing [Election Board] can do,” Dau said. “It is the responsibility of each campaign to follow the guidelines of the manual.” He said because the elections have been advertised for this week, there will not be a secondary election week held. “I feel bad for the students who may be affected and I sympathize, but we can’t go back,” Dau said. Per the ruling, the campaign cannot post or distribute any new material, including anything written, plastic or paper until the appeal process is finalized. However, any material that has already been posted may stay up. The Ngo/Richardson ticket still has one more hearing pending to be held tonight at 9 p.m. over an alleged violation of regulations imposed at last week’s hearing. The decision was postponed after Election Board ruled they had insufficient evidence to continue with proceedings last night. When found in violation of campaign rules, tickets are fined with “points” based on the severity of the rule violation. The more points accumulated by a campaign, the more regulations are placed on the ticket. While the ticket had
amassed 30 points last hearing, the most recent ruling was overturned at an appeal Monday afternoon and 5 points were removed. However, yesterday’s addition of 40 points pushed the campaign to 65. The Election Board manual dictates under section four that once a ticket has accumulated 60 points, “the campaign is disqualified from the election.” Richardson said he was “beyond confident” his ticket will win their appeal. “We will be victorious in our quest to improve the student experience here at the University of Toledo,” he said, “because we are by the students and for the students. Go Rockets.” Stricklin said he is confident the ruling will stand and “the facts will remain the same.” “As a student leader, the ability to be held accountable for your actions is key,” he said. For those curious about the regulations, the Election Board manual is open and free to be viewed online on the SG website under the Documents section. Students can access the ballots through the myUT Portal. Polls close today at 4 p.m. —Vincent D. Scebbi contributed to this article.
At one point, Rubin turned and addressed the senate floor, questioning the appropriateness of their attitudes. “What is going on” Rubin asked. “I’m not saying that I’m all for going for impeachment, I mean that’s not going to make us look good regardless, but are we really trying to debate the rules of the organization? Can you just take a step back?” Max Gold, a senior majoring in philosophy, said he was disturbed by the attitude of some senators. “As a four-year member of Student Government, I found it disrespectful that members were arguing with an advisor,” Gold said. After discussion, an informal vote was posed by Senate Vice Chair Mike Hicho on whether or not to have the hearing. There were 11 members for and 14 against. Once the impeachments were denied for the evening, Rubin motioned to add a clause to the Constitution in which any ranking member found ineligible to be in SG should step down from their positions. He jokingly suggested this to be named the “Krystal Clause.” Krystal Weaver, former SG president, was impeached after using her former position as 2008 election committee chair to access the results for the 2009 election four times before they were made public. However, when the Senate attempted to impeach her, she vetoed her own impeachment. After this incident, the responsibilities of the election
board were handed off to the SJC. There were initial objections to the “Krystal Clause,” but these were aggressively rebutted. “Why do we have an SJC council when their decisions and debates are not going to matter?” said Senator Ernie Brancheau, SG web director. The final vote to add the clause into the Constitution was passed unopposed. “If a ranking member of the organization did have any dignity or any kind of respect whatsoever for the organization they were a part of and that they represent … they probably should just step down … instead of make a mockery of the organization a lot of people work very hard for and dedicate a lot of time to,” Rubin said. Rubin then made a motion to extend this policy to any member of SG and not restrict it to only the ranking members. After some minor debate, this motion was passed with a vote of 13 to two. After further constitutional amendments were made, a senator noted many members were tired and upset and it was decided further discussion concerning the matter would be tabled until the next meeting. While the two clauses have been added to the SG Constitution, they can still be modified until a final vote of acceptance is held regarding the entire document.
month lease and for a two bedroom unit it is $629 per bed and for a four unit it is $599 a bed. Their lease includes the furniture with a full kitchen and with the utility space,” he said. He said with any project this size there are always surprises. Even prior to development there were things to work through, however for the most part this has been smooth sailing, even with this project being less than a 12-month build. “It is pretty amazing,” Schroeder said. “There has been a lot of nice give and take and willingness to take a job that would normally be an 18-month build and really
fast-track it to get it done.” Robert Wissolik, project manager for Rudolph Libby, said 100 tradesmen work every day and their overall feeling is everyone is really excited to get it all done. Schroder said the project went through the UT Foundation because it affords flexibility in terms of overall deal structure compared to the traditional university and the state of Ohio. “The foundation with its investment committee and real-estate corps supports the University of Toledo, which makes it a private model,” he said. Those interested in renting a loft should visit www.