Despite a ruling from the Student-wide Judiciary to dismiss all charges without appeal, the case against the Student Association's leadership hasn't quite reached its end.
Matthew Pelkey said on Sunday that his Reform Our Campus party is claiming procedural error and plans to file a complaint with the judiciary of improper dismissal.
The judiciary's chief justice, William Sherlock, made it clear last week that the motion to end the case was final. Pelkey and his fellow plaintiffs missed their deadline to submit required paperwork, namely a basic summary of grievances.
Pelkey is pressing on, claiming the judiciary already had his group's briefs from previous complaints and that Reform Our Campus was never properly informed such summaries were needed. All the involved parties were sent letters, but Pelkey said he and Elizabeth Salzman received theirs late, while Francisco Baiocchi never got one at all.
SA Treasurer Mazin Kased - whom Pelkey accuses of bribery, slander, and perjury - received his letter on time, as did SA President Dela Yador and Vice President Sonia Kang. All the charges stem from last spring's SA election and a recorded conversation between Kased and Baiocchi, who was running for SUNY SA delegate.
Pelkey is arguing that because two-thirds of his party wasn't notified until after the deadline, the judiciary's dismissal is void under a procedural error. Sherlock could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, emerging from a yearlong scandal, SA officials want to ensure that such allegations in the future are resolved as timely as possible.
Yador said he will meet in the coming weeks with the chair of SA's Election & Credentials Committee, Avneet Jacob, to discuss possible reforms. Changes could include a sunshine clause requiring the committee to resolve election allegations within a time limit, but Yador said he doesn't want to rush into any amendments.
"I want to play devil's advocate," Yador said. "I want to make sure everything's covered in a worst-case scenario."
SA also needs to guarantee, Yador said, that E&C reforms don't impede elections but still make the process "a more fluent, more efficient-running operation to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Mark Sorel, SA's administrative director, said in over 20 years at SA, he has never seen a case drag on like this one has.
When asked to sum up the situation, Sorel chose one word, "ridiculous." Pelkey's failure to file a brief, he said, was indicative of a saga that started with the E&C Committee's failure to make a timely decision.
"With the ruling, and one side not bringing something in - the side that was pushing it - it's just sad to see there's no following through on anything people are trying to do," Sorel said.
The charges Pelkey leveled against Kased came in March 2005, but the E&C Committee didn't make a ruling before the spring semester ended. That meant the case had to be picked up by the new committee in the fall, which had to wait for the SA Assembly to convene and form another sub-committee to consider the allegations.
Earlier this month, the E&C Committee deferred the case to the judiciary. There was also a separate University Police investigation, which turned over its findings to the judiciary as well.
But in Sorel's experience, the answer is not more checks and balances, as some students have suggested.
"It would do more harm than good," he said.
Yador also pointed to the obstacle of bureaucracy.
"I'm not a poli sci major. I'm a student in this position," Yador said. "If there needs to be checks and balances in this...anyone, anyone, anyone can come forward and bring their ideas."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
