The Undergraduate Senate will hold a special session at 11 p.m. Wednesday to reconsider a previously-passed AUTO oversight bill, one of several senate actions - including a censure of AUTO Commissioner Zack Schwartz - currently considered invalid because they violated a previous Student Government Judicial Board ruling.
Senate Speaker Justin Woods called the special session after SG Comptroller Eric Goldstein, who has oversight of the AUTO program, sent an e-mail to Woods, SG President Seth Cutter and SG Parliamentarian Anthony Dunham Monday afternoon to inform them that all actions the body took while in a closed session during Sunday's meeting were invalid. The senate held the closed session during its more than five-hour-long meeting Sunday to privately consider the bill and the allegations of AUTO van misuse that prompted its introduction.
"According to the Judicial Board ruling 2.1.1 (from the third JB) ' However, in these [closed] meetings, no decisions shall be made; there shall only be discussion about the pertinent information. The [closed] meeting shall end before any decision is made.' The Senate is not allowed to reach decisions while in a closed session," Goldstein said in the e-mail.
All actions the senate took during the closed session are also invalid under the Judicial Board ruling. Woods declined to comment on what other actions the senate took during the closed session. Woods said that while he called the special session specifically to reconsider the AUTO oversight bill, the senate could still consider a censure motion if a member of the body introduces it.
"At any time, a senator can make that sort of motion," he said.
The bill and the senate's censure vote stemmed from an anonymous letter that alleged Schwartz had used AUTO vans without permission and had used a van for his fraternity's use. Schwartz denied the accusations, The Eagle previously reported.
You can reach this staff writer at jphillips@theeagleonline.com.
Updated on 4/20 at 9:59 p.m.
