ASMSU reportedly did not follow proper procedures when the organization voted to remove Great Issues from its Programming Board two months ago. Now that the group has been reinstated, some students wonder how the action was allowed to happen in the first place.
Also at issue is whether ASMSU followed Michigan's Open Meetings Act in its closed-door deliberations Thursday to reinstate the group.
In a two-hour closed session, Student Assembly discussed the Feb. 9 action that originally removed Great Issues from Programming Board.
The State News learned Sunday that Great Issues had been reinstated, but was told that no official action was taken in the Thursday session. There was no documentation produced, and the reversal was not made public.
Student Assembly Chairperson Roger Ludy issued a memo to ASMSU attorneys and Great Issues Co-Director Maggie Corser describing the decision.
"Upon internal evaluation of the procedures outlined in the Student Assembly Code of Operations, the adoption of Bill No. 43-46 is invalid, and therefore, the bill is null and void," the memo read.
Ludy did not return repeated attempts to contact him.
Arab Cultural Society outgoing President Osman Elfaki was instrumental in proposing the original bill to remove Great Issues.
"This goes back to the leadership problem," Elfaki said. "When we submitted the bill, had we known that the procedure was wrong, we could have done the correct procedure. Nobody, including the chair or internal vice chair, informed us that the bill was submitted with the incorrect procedures. They kept quiet."
Brandon Hicks, Student Assembly's vice chairperson for internal affairs, has faced scrutiny for losing the minutes from the Feb. 8 meeting.
Under the fourth provision of Student Assembly Code of Operations Section 21, Part F, before the assembly can take action on a new bill, it must go through an executive committee.
Mike Leahy, representative of the College of Social Science, was serving as interim vice chairperson for external affairs and said the committee did not meet. Leahy also said he was under the impression that not enough assembly members were present for the vote, which results in the invalidity of the bill.
"You need a two-thirds vote, not just of the people who are there, which we did get, but (of) the entire membership to change the code of operations," Leahy said.
Also according to the code, "to be considered at a given meeting, a bill must be distributed twenty-four hours before the meeting."
Great Issues members and some assembly representatives have maintained that they were not informed of the bill prior to the vote at the Feb. 8 meeting.
"That's debatable," Leahy said in regards to the claim that the bill was not brought to the attention of the assembly in due time. "There were some people that maybe didn't hear about it in advance, even though (copies of the bill) were made available."
ASMSU's legal counsel cited an exemption in the Open Meetings Act when The State News challenged the decision to go into closed session at the meeting.
Student Assembly members did not specify what they planned to discuss before the closed meeting.
Brian Jeffries, one of two ASMSU attorneys present at the meeting, said MSU's undergraduate student government followed the act, but said they had to is "speculation."
"We provided a legal opinion to the assembly, and that was done under attorney-client privilege," Jeffries said. "There was no decision made."
The act states that a "'public body' means any state or local legislative or governing body, including a board, commission, committee, subcommittee, authority, or council that is empowered by state constitution, statute, charter, ordinance, resolution, (or) rule to exercise governmental or proprietary authority."
ASMSU collects a $16.75 per semester tax from undergraduate students, which amounts to a more than $1 million annual budget.
Michigan law says all decisions passed by public bodies must be made in a meeting open to the public.
The reinstatement comes on the heels of a letter from Lee June, vice president for student affairs and services, which encouraged Student Assembly to "reconsider (its) decision." The letter also claimed that ASMSU could "face serious consequences" for removing the group.
"(Ludy and Hicks) kept it quiet so that if Great Issues had filed a lawsuit, they would find a way around it to not implement the bill," Elfaki said. "They were afraid. Knowing Great Issues, they would file a lawsuit, so (Ludy and Hicks) would make sure not to protect us with the correct procedure."
June said he didn't know if his recommendation spurred the decision by ASMSU to reinstate Great Issues.
"We asked them to look into the matter, and I'm just pleased they have resolved it," June said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been representing Great Issues since its removal, sent a letter to Jeffries after Thursday's meeting. "I am somewhat concerned that the primary reason ASMSU reversed its position was because of the threat of a lawsuit," ACLU Legal Director Michael Steinberg wrote.
"The initial action taken by ASMSU … is a classic case of viewpoint discrimination."
The letter referenced several U.S. Supreme Court cases to defend Great Issues.
Steinberg could not be reached for comment.
Jeffries said the meeting with Student Assembly on Thursday and the decision to reinstate the group, was not based on any impending legal ramifications.
Joey Nowak can be reached at nowakjo2@msu.edu.
