Editor's Note: The following article incorrectly stated Ali Puente's position in the University Democrats. Puente is the vice president. The error has now been corrected and bolded.
It began friendly enough.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, the mood of the Student Government assembly's last meeting was jovial. SG President Brent Chaney endured a slide show of embarrassing family pictures. At least a dozen painfully off-key representatives circled the outgoing president, singing "The Wind Beneath My Wings." At one point, Chaney was even soaked with water guns by disguised marauders interrupting the meeting.
But the laughter didn't last long. Tempers escalated dramatically, culminating in a quorum-breaking walkout at about 1 a.m. Members accused each other of "failing constituents" by refusing to vote on a controversial bill that would've eliminated tickets from student elections.
"I am going to try to prevent them from getting elected next year," Matt Ross, a two-year-at-large member and author of the bill, said in reference to the members who walked out. "I'll smear their names. Whatever it takes, it will be done."
Ross declined to specify individuals, but much of the other members' hostility targeted Grant Stanis, a business representative and the most outspoken member against the bill. Stanis and Ross had a shouting match outside the meeting room as Stanis was leaving.
Chaney said shortly after midnight that in four years, he'd never seen anything like Tuesday's meeting. Members tacked amendments onto amendments, proposing everything from completely removing spending limits to eliminating all semblances of a ticket system.
"I was hoping to end this catastrophe of a meeting," Danny Macdonald, a student member of the faculty council, said regarding the reason he moved to table the bill indefinitely.
In the end, the bill never made it to a vote. For a governing body, it was embarrassing. For a governing body trying desperately to convert a generally apathetic constituency, it could prove to be fatal.
Both sides accused the other of harboring hidden agendas. Opponents of the bill accused Matt Ross of setting up a bid for president next year. After the walkout, Matt Stolhandske, who spoke in support of the bill, chanted, "Stanis '06." Ross said he was considering running for president, but he and Stanis both denied accusations of political maneuvering. For what that's worth.
The meeting underlines SG's reoccurring refusal to vote on controversial legislation, a problem plaguing the assembly and one that members brought up Tuesday night. During debate on whether or not to indefinitely table the ticket-elimination bill, representatives cited a lack of consensus as a reason not to hold a vote.
When a governing body refuses to vote without overwhelming agreement, it accomplishes little. What legislation it does pass becomes watered down by ridiculous concessions and amendments. Which is one reason why many people either don't care about Student Government or complain about it.
A new group of student representatives takes office on Sunday, and, according to speakers Tuesday night, most of the incoming members have said they don't support eliminating tickets. What's the point of passing a bill, some reps wondered, if the next assembly will just overturn it?
Anyone stumped by that question should remember that the assembly doesn't really govern students as much as it does speak for them. SG's primary responsibility is to voice the opinion of students on a particular issue at a particular time. It doesn't matter what the next group plans to do.
Much of what SG does is largely symbolic anyway. The group passes bills and resolutions that administrators and legislators are sure to ignore all the time. The point is to put UT students on the record on important issues.
A more reasonable criticism of the bill is that it was hastily prepared. Representatives brought up legitimate questions and alternatives. Some of the bill's supporters called it a filibuster, but this measure shouldn't have been railroaded through at the last minute. The bill's authors should've allowed enough time for thorough, even contentious debate.
Stanis and company should not be criticized for engaging in, or even prolonging, the debate. But they should be criticized for walking out.
As Ali Puente, vice-president of the University Democrats, put it: "I beg of you, I plead with you to consider this resolution ... Vote for it or against it, but make a bloody vote."
Whatever the outcome, refusing to vote on an issue this important is ridiculous. SG will have another chance at a special session Saturday morning. This page hopes the bill will pass, but we hope more to at least see a vote - even if it takes all day and into the night.
If students read Monday morning that SG refused to vote, they truly will have been failed.
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