On Sunday evening, the Student Association made the decision to start a petition to initiate recall proceedings against SA Treasurer Sikander Khan. The Senate would not be initiating recall proceedings as a legislative body, but as members of the student body.
The Senate was unable to motion recall proceedings of its own because recall motions must start within the Assembly, according to the SA constitution. The Assembly chose to table discussion of recall proceedings until the next meeting, ultimately a decision to not start litigation, as the next meeting will not be held until April 18.
"I personally feel that maybe the Assembly should have [started the recall process]," said Senate Chair Darwinson Valdez. "They weren't informed. Most of the legislative body does not get trained - as things come, that's how we learn. I feel like they didn't know that they could've done something but as the Senate, we are going to be reaching out to the Assembly to help us with this recall process."
The other option for recall is a petition led by the students themselves - the petition needs to be signed by at least 10 percent of the student body or have as many signatures as votes in the last election - whichever is greater - according to the SA constitution.
Valdez read the following statement after the Senate deliberated its options in an executive session:
"Individuals from the senate intend to start a recall petition for the SA treasurer. We will get the required number - which is the number of votes in the last election - signatures of the student body and submit it to SWJ for investigation, in accordance with Article 9, Section 9.01 - Causes for Recall - and Article 9, Section 9.02 - Initiating Recall - of the Student Association constitution."
The Senate and Assembly would need to obtain at least 2,576 signatures (the number of votes in the last election) before submitting the petition to the Student-Wide Judiciary. SWJ will then review the petition and causes for recall; if charges against the official - in this case, the charges against Khan - are determined to be valid, he or she will be removed from office immediately and the position will be declared vacant.
"I'm not totally aware of how long it'll take, but as a Senate Chair, once I get that petition, I will turn it into SWJ with a letter stating please as soon as possible [make a decision] so we could appoint somebody and get the work done for the rest of the semester," Valdez said.
The decision to start the recall process in this manner came after the Senate introduced two resolutions. The first resolution would suspend Khan's pay for the remainder of his term; the Senate voted to approve this resolution in a 9-0-3 vote.
The second resolution proposed that the powers of the treasurer should be transferred to the assistant treasurer with the most academic credit hours completed at UB. The Senate does not have the power to make such a decision.
"The reason why the resolution was not passed is because we do not have the authority to do that under the SA constitution because it is essentially impeaching him without going through SWJ," Valdez said.
Both resolutions were proposed with a list of circumstances in which Khan failed to execute his duties. The list said Khan failed to:
- Present the Finance Committee with their finalized budget by the date required by the Student Association Constitution, as outlined in Article 7, Section 1. The budget given to the Finance Committee was not presented in good faith.
- Chair the Finance Committee, missing approximately 90 percent of club budget hearings.
- Call a meeting of the Finance Committee to deliberate on the budget.
- In due diligence regarding following internal controls relating to signing of contracts.
"The treasurer has not been fulfilling those duties, and it is absurd that he was absent at 90 percent of the budget hearings," Valdez said. "We had to go outside of him to get the budget prepared, [done with] the help of Dan Pastuf. I'm glad that we were able to suspend his pay. Maybe that will motivate him to go to the office and work."
The Senate will immediately begin to collect student signatures because it, as a whole, wants to ensure that future officials complete their set duties. The Senate wants to set precedent and show that it will use its power to recall officials if they fail in their positions.
"Really when you think about it, I don't represent SA; I represent students," said On-Campus Senator Kittie Pizzutelli. "That's my job as an on-campus senator. I'm not paid by SA. We're doing [this] as individual students taking initiative."
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Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
