Complaints heard by court

Action and Crimson representatives deliberated student rights and IU Student Association procedures during an IUSA Supreme Court public hearing, Monday. The court is expected to soon release its decision on whether to admit complaints filed against the Crimson and Unity parties for alleged campaign violations.\nThis and past years' election hearings are causing the integrity of IU student government to be questioned, Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Clifford said.\n"The court is in a tough situation," he said. "There is a crisis of legitimacy in student government. In the past, students have believed IUSA to be a powerful voice for their interests. That has been thrown into question in recent years, and the controversy does not help."\nThe Action complaint was previously rejected by the IUSA elections commission because of technical inadequacies. Specifically, the elections code mandates that all complaints must be double-spaced and contain one-inch margins, link allegations of misconduct to specific code violations and be turned in on time. Action failed to meet any of these requirements, according to the elections commission decision.\nThe court now decides whether to admit the Action complaint and force the elections commission to review its contents. \nAction representative Jon Schurger acknowledged that the complaint failed to meet the requirements, but he argued that the students' interests should supercede the technical inadequacies. Schurger argued that a complaint filed by Willkie Quad students was heard by the elections commission that did not meet the requirements.\n"If the court holds people to a different standard or rules, it negates the rules entirely," Action treasurer candidate Eric Butterbaugh said.\nCrimson representative Derek Molter rebutted Action's position by arguing that the elections commission has the authority to determine which complaints it should and should not accept. Molter said the elections commission might have chosen to accept the flawed Willkie complaint because of the "average student's unfamiliarity with the elections system."\nIf the court decides to force the elections commission to review the complaint, the election results may not be available for several weeks. If it chooses to uphold the elections commission decision, the election results would be released almost simultaneously with the Supreme Court decision.\nStill, Clifford hopes IUSA will take a hard look at its elections code regardless of the court's decision, he said.\n"There are problems with it," he said. "There needs to be major changes. Until these issues are addressed there will continue to be these kinds of appeals"