The Georgetown University Student Association Constitutional Council ruled that the Jan. 12 confirmation vote and election for a new speaker of the GUSA Senate violated the organization’s bylaws. The Jan. 19 decision ordered that Sam Greco (SFS ’15) be sworn in speaker of the GUSA Senate “as quickly as possible.”
On Dec. 8, the final Senate meeting of the fall semester, then-Speaker George Spyropoulos (COL ’14) resigned from his position and Vice Speaker Sam Greco (SFS ‘15) was assumed to naturally succeed. While Senate bylaw 2.05(e) states that the vice speaker “[assumes] the role of Speaker should the Speaker resign or be removed,” it does not mention whether the succession requires a confirmation vote.
To some senators’ surprise, however, a confirmation vote for speaker was held at the first Senate meeting of the semester. Greco was not confirmed after receiving nine yes votes and 13 no votes, with two abstentions. An open election was held, during which Senator Emilie Siegler (SFS ’14) won the speakership over Greco, Senators Robert Shepherd (MSB ‘15), and Abbey McNaughton (COL ’16).
A confirmation vote had been held the previous academic year when then-Speaker Nate Tisa (SFS ’14) resigned to run for GUSA president and then-Vice Speaker Zach Singer (SFS ’15) was confirmed by acclamation to the speakership in the same meeting.
In response to the Jan. 12 election, Ethan Chess (COL ’14), GUSA election commissioner, submitted a petition to the Constitutional Council, claiming that “Greco was rightfully the Speaker of the Senate for over a month.” The Council ruled after four days of deliberation that Greco was indeed speaker and barred future confirmation votes. Several senators had been confused or surprised by the proceedings and were glad for the Council’s clarification.
Ramadan wrote in an email to the Voice that, “People just had very strong opinions about Sam and as the neutral presiding officer I had to follow the procedures of motions.”
Senator Cannon Warren (SFS ‘14), who was not present at the meeting, said the vote clearly violated the bylaws and “I was at home for a funeral when the vote happened, otherwise I would have stopped it.” [Disclosure: Warren is a former Voice staffer.]
On the other hand, Seamus Guerin (COL ’16) thought the procedure was justified. “There was no questioning or debate [during Singer’s confirmation] because I think people believed in his abilities at that time. This time around, that was not the case,” Guerin said. “Those questions and debate are standard for any kind of election that we have when there are multiple candidates. … I don’t know why anyone thought that there wouldn’t be [questions].”
During the confirmation vote, senators voiced concerns that Greco may be leaving in the middle of his term. “To vote for someone who has alluded to step down in a few weeks, we are voting for the Senate to shut down,” Senator Jimmy Ramirez (COL ’15) added during debate.
When asked why he had originally voted for Sam as vice speaker but not for speaker, Guerin stated that “it means something different in the Senate, the speakership versus the vice speakership.”
In its decision, the Constitutional Council stated that it “received concerns about the separation of powers in student government.” Josh Shinbrot (COL ‘16), Constitutional Council justice, however, clarified that he had “not been presented with any evidence that Adam Ramadan knowingly overstepped his powers.”
The Constitutional Council’s decision also criticized the absence of the public minutes of the Jan. 12 meeting due to the absence of the Senate executive officer, Serena Gobbi (COL ‘16), whose role combines communications director, parliamentarian, and secretary into one position.
“[I] was not present at the meeting in question due to a last-minute change in the time of the meeting,” Gobbi wrote in an email to the Voice. She had not missed any other meeting previously in her term as executive officer.
As a result, the Constitutional Council mandated that any bylaw disputes “must be videotaped or recorded, minutes must be taken and posted, and the Parliamentarian or equivalent officer must be present,” and that the “support staff to the Senate be increased.” The Council also made a nonbinding recommendation that support staff be monetarily compensated.
Greco ultimately sees the entire series of events as evidence that GUSA’s separation of powers works as it should. “Obviously, there were some serious, constitutional questions with what happened,” Greco told the Voice shortly after the Constitutional Council’s hearing. “Fortunately, our organization has a mechanism, the Constitutional Council, to give a second look to these things, and I’m glad they did.”
