Senate leadership lacks transparency

The talk of the town is this weekend’s lockdown, and there are plenty of articles to read in this week’s edition.

However, I’d be failing my job as a journalist and government watchdog if I didn’t offer needed commentary about the failure of transparency in the Student Senate.

If a newspaper is published in the woods, and no one cares enough to read it, is it still a newspaper? @eagleoverheard

— Jacob Rissler (@JacobRissler) December 4, 2014

While I doubt Senate President Dillon Spies and his milieu will acknowledge my complaints outside of twitter, my hope is to generate sufficient student interest and involvement in the public affairs of Student Senate.

I have tried to maintain an editorial policy of waiting a week to let our readers get the news and form their own opinions before I offer my criticism.

However, the Senate news this week carries a high-probability of being overlooked by the student body. Therefore, I feel that this matter needs to be brought before public discussion.

For the sake of a balanced and open discussion, I will reserve an entire page in next week’s edition of The Eagle to publish letters to the editor, opposing viewpoints, and rebuttals.

But before I proceed, I need to address the resignation of former Chief Justice Jon Lordino.

While Mr. Lordino is no longer a public figure, I want to thank him for his service to Chadron State College and the student body. His letter to the editor was one of the highlights of my fall semester, and I sincerely hope that he will continue to faithfully employ the leadership skills he gained during his time on Senate. I wish him well with all his future endeavors.

Next, I specifically want to commend Senators of Liberal Arts Mikayla Gallagher and Courtney Bustillos for speaking out  and representing their constituents, and to applaud former Andrews Senator Marci Luton for being vocal about her concerns with the Senate, and for resigning from her post in protest.

Ms. Luton’s actions took courage and they speak volumes about her leadership, character, and sense of fairness. She has earned my respect. I can only hope her peers possess enough tenacity to pick up where she left off.

Now, for the current Senate executive board and its advisers, I need to voice legitimate concerns that beg both their attention and immediate action. This is not time for satire or snappy acronyms. This is not time for my cynicism; my complaints are not about money or leadership presentations.

I am obligated to point out that Spies has failed to follow through with his promise to bring transparency to Student Senate. A transparent government is a fair government, but Spies most recent actions are neither fair, nor transparent.

While Spies has constitutional ground to make appointments, he has not only damaged the faith of the Senate, but also violated the public’s trust through his inability to be transparent and forthright with his intentions.

It is the Student Senate; not the Spies Senate. Decision making should not be a privilege exclusively exercised by the chairman of a public body, but rather the entire Democratic process is a right reserved by the elected Senate body. It may well be the prerogative of the executive board and Senate’s advisers to ignore critical thinking and continue the status quo, but I hope you will consider the following.

Board Policy 3300, the document that outlines structured student organizations such as Student Senate, states: “All applicable state and federal laws and regulations, Board policies and College rules shall be followed in the operation of all student organizations.”

The State of Nebraska has an Open Meetings Act, (Neb. Rev. Stat. §84-1409 through Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-1414), a set of statutory laws which govern how public bodies are supposed to conduct meetings.

It is my understanding that the Nebraska Open Meetings Act would be one of the “applicable state and federal laws and regulations” that the Student Senate is obligated by the Board Policy to follow.

The Open Meetings laws were passed by the Nebraska state legislature in order to protect the public interest.

Among the many rights the law extends to the public, it outlines when a public body is allowed to enter a closed session, (a practice which Senate has not properly adhered to); how, prior to the meeting, a public body is required to publish a detailed agenda for public viewing, (a practice that Senate has not properly adhered to); and how public bodies are required to maintain their minutes and present them for review upon request, (a practice which Senate has not properly adhered to).

I am requesting that the new Chief Justice, Coy Clark, investigate this matter and deliver a public report.

I have complained numerous times that the Senate’s minutes and agendas are not openly accessible to the student body. I have personally brought this issue to Spies’s attention, and my requests for copies of Senate’s minutes were ignored.

The Eagle has also reported several instances over the course of the last year when Senate has not properly stated a purpose prior to calling a closed session. The Open Meetings law specifically limits what closed sessions may be used for, because transparency is always in the public’s interest.

I’ve addressed these concerns in the past to the previous Senate executive board, and even offered solutions, but the “don’t point out a problem without providing a solution” philosophy Jacob Rissler spoke about in December was never heard.

I fail to understand how Senate’s leadership expects students to be involved and give them feedback when it constantly obscures its actions, silences discussion, and withholds the information its constituents need to be informed.

If Student Senate is, through some feat of legal acrobatics, not required to comply with the Nebraska Open Meetings Act, then I will apologize and admit my error.

However, if it takes a law to force a leader to be transparent and accountable to the public trust, perhaps students should vote for representatives who can carry out the public’s interest on their own volition.

CORRECTION: Feb. 4, 2015 – The article as printed in the Jan. 29 issue of the Eagle contained a misspelling of Marci Luton’s last name. The article has been edited to reflect this correction. We sincerely regret our err.