Every journalist dreams of reporting a scandal. I thought I had mine when I learned that the offices of Campus Recreation were being moved from the gymnasium to the fieldhouse. This move raised red flags throughout Student Government and the Division of Student Affairs. The thought of Activity and Service (A&S) fees subsidizing the $800,000 in cuts to the athletic budget was too much to bear. I investigated and found that the move was simply a logistical measure. I was also assured that A&S fees would only be used to benefit the student body. This left me without a cover story.
The real story, however, lay in how Student Government handled this and many other issues. I didn’t know how bad it really got in Suite 215 of the University Center until I approached several Student Government officers about the Campus Rec. situation.
Student Government has been degraded to a psychotic zero-sum game with one winner and one loser. If the past election cycle and the actions of several Student Government officers over the last two months are any indication of what this year will be like, the only losers will be the students.
The one thing I learned from this experience was that Camelot is over. The idyllic, serene Student Government of past Student Body President Pablo E. Paez is now a cherished memory. In its place, power-hungry vultures are picking at the carcasses of dying dreams. What about the promised scholarships? Do we have an active court? Which student body statutes are we running under? Is Student Government doing anything about Campus Recreation? With juvenile power plays flying left and right, the answers to these questions have been elusive.
Red Team vs. Blue Team
In every conflict, there is a protagonist and an antagonist, one who is the champion and the other a challenger. If you walk into the Student Government offices at Boca Raton, it’s not hard to see where the battle lines have been drawn. In fact, the doors have been color-coded for your convenience. Those aligned with President Ancel Pratt have nametags in blue, and those aligned with Boca Raton Campus Governor Alvira Khan have red nametags.
In April, “blue ticket” candidate Ancel Pratt III, the current Student Body President, won a nasty election against Shawn Benyo, the leader of the “red ticket”. Benyo, an accounting major, has been rebuked in the past; he was thrown out of the Boca Raton Student Senate one year ago and was not approved as a leave-replacement during last year’s session.
Benyo, who was finally approved as a leave-replacement at last Thursday’s Senate meeting, joined a legislative body that is in disrepair. On June 5, the Senate failed to achieve quorum, which is the minimum number of members needed to conduct a meeting. The Senate has also had seven of its members removed for not meeting the minimum requirements to be a senator. It should be noted that most of the absent and removed senators were once candidates on Benyo’s red ticket.
Two more red ticket winners make up a triumvirate that will continue to be a thorn in the side of President Pratt.
In the Senate, there is David Johnson, who was also denied a Student Government position last year when he lost the election for Boca Raton Campus Governor. That position, Student Government’s Chief Executive, went to Brandey Parker in a run-off between her and Johnson.
Because Johnson was the most qualified out of a mostly freshman student senate, Senate Speaker Michael Moore was left with no other option than to appoint him speaker pro-tempore, the no. 2 position in the Boca Raton Student Senate.
The current Boca Raton Campus Governor is Alvira Khan, who won in a landslide election against Victor Lee, chief of staff to former Governor Parker. The relationship between Khan, Johnson, and Benyo (and thus, the executive and legislative branches of the Boca Raton campus) is, to say the least, very friendly.
They are leaders in a challenge to Ancel Pratt’s presidency. But is that such a bad thing?
Presidency on a platter
Former President Pablo Paez was an overachiever, so much so that he basically gave Ancel Pratt a “road map” for success. Several programs that President Paez created are in jeopardy today because of the naivetí© of those in charge, starting with Pratt himself.
Last year the overarching Student Government at FAU, the University-Wide Council, approved a $40,000 allocation for the purpose of giving scholarships. Although the allocation was duly approved and signed by President Paez last semester, Pratt has not transferred the money into the scholarship account.
Why? President Pratt will tell you that he is still in meetings with administration about the scholarships. President Pratt, who was elected as Student Body President? Was it you or FAU’s administation?
This is not the first time in Pratt’s presidency that he has used the administration as a crutch.
Currently, Student Government is in a constitutional crisis. Last semester, Student Government updated its constitution and statutes in order to comply with the new Florida School Code and other state statutes. According to the new school code, all new internal procedures must be approved by the Board of Trustees.
President Pratt, who is also a member of the Board of Trustees, had an opportunity to get these statutes through the committee and a then get a final approval from the trustees.
But once again, administration stepped in. Instead of instructing the University Atttorney’s office to take the statutes de novo and making sure that nothing within the statutes violated existing laws or policies, Ancel Pratt has allowed them to delay the process so they can butcher and form the statutes to their liking and not the students’.
As far as I can see, the new constitution and statutes will not be approved by the board until the beginning of the fall semester, at the earliest.
Constitutional Crisis
So which statutes are we governing ourselves under? According to University-Wide Chief Justice Dana Roberts, we’re governing ourselves under the old ones (which are in non-compliance with Florida Law) until further notice. But does she have the power to decide?
The answer is no. The Chief Justice cannot make this decision alone. Any decision would have to be made by the entire Student Body Court in relation to a case that was heard by the full court.
The problem lies in the fact that we do not have an active Student Court. In fact, Student Government does not know which court should be empanelled.
According to the old constitution, three justices are appointed to each campus grouping (of which there are four) to serve on a lower or campus court, while one of the justices serves as chief justice for their respective campus.
Each campus chief justice, along with the university-wide chief justice made up the higher court. This system was simplified with the latest revisions. According to the new constitution, there is one associate justice appointed from each campus grouping and a chief justice appointed by the president to form only one court.
And the winner so far…
The Boca Raton Campus Student Government is the clear winner so far. As long as the Senate, along with its speaker, can work with each other, and above all, show up to the meetings, the Boca Raton SGA can be a great force for change. Perhaps we need challengers for the leadership in order to make sure they get things done.
