A policy bill was approved Wednesday by the Residence Halls Association that outlines procedures for the removal of executive board members, taking action on an issue an earlier-formed ethics committee could not.
The policy gives the association’s president and internal and external vice presidents the power to remove executives from their office in cases of gross negligence.
The bill followed the formation of an ethics committee Feb. 20 to investigate personnel issues stemming from complaints by former RHA Movies Director Amondo Redmond on behalf of employees for pay issues. The RHA movies program had spent its $82,500 spring semester budget by March.
The ethics committee couldn’t take disciplinary action against Redmond and Assistant Movies Director Keith Redmond, who resigned earlier this semester, policy committee chairman Patrick Walker said.
RHA’s policy committee recommended the creation of the bill.
“The general assembly realized the (executive) board wasn’t doing much of anything,” Walker said. “It was a real hassle just to try and get someone who questioned the productivity in the first place. We approach the elected three now, so it is much easier.”
In the past, the procedure for firing an executive involved a meeting with the human resources director and an ethics committee to take further action. Walker said the ethics committee decision that took nine weeks wasn’t surprising.
“(The ethics committee) did exactly what I expected - which is pretty much nothing,” Walker said.
Internal Vice President John Sturk said the association passed a bill to alter future ethics committees last week. A two-thirds majority vote of the general assembly will be required to take action on ethics committee recommendations and there will be a six-week limit on future committee’s investigations.
“I trust they did the best job that they could given that the circumstances were not optimum,” he said.
“I was satisfied with the report that (ethics committee leaders) gave the assembly last week.”
But not all RHA members are pleased with the final decision of the ethics committee.
“The ethics committee was useless,” Case Hall Rep. Adam Raezler said. “It was a waste of the members time. It was a waste of the (general assembly’s) time to have to think about it and worry about it. Nothing was resolved from it, nothing was found out. It just shows another problem in the organization that the ethics committee couldn’t even function right.
“I honestly wondered why it took them so long to do nothing, It’s kind of interesting we didn’t hear anything back except, ‘We found out nothing.’”
