Petitions filed against IUSA code

An emergency congressional meeting for the IU Student Association was canceled Thursday after the IUSA Supreme Court released a statement saying a vote to approve or overturn the court’s disqualification of the Kirkwood ticket from the elections would be unconstitutional.\nSupreme Court Chief Justice Kate FitzGerald said the Big Red ticket will still be inaugurated Monday.\nAfter IUSA President W.T. Wright called the emergency meeting for a review of the decision, FitzGerald sent an e-mail to Wright – as well as IU President Michael McRobbie, Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, other IU administrators and IUSA members, among others – saying that she had received two petitions questioning the constitutionality of three sections in the IUSA Elections Code. She recommended that the meeting be canceled.\n“These three sections of the Code, which are defined in the Constitution as IUSA bylaws, exist in blatant contradiction to the IUSA Constitution,” she wrote in the e-mail. “The Constitution supersedes bylaws. These three sections of the Code must be removed from the Code or edited to reflect full constitutionality prior to next year’s elections process.”\nThere will be a hearing on the sections next week to make a formal decision. FitzGerald said she did not know when the hearing would be, but said it had to be at least seven days from Thursday.\n“No decision by the Supreme Court can be subject to congressional approval or dismissal,” FitzGerald said in an interview. \nShe also said any potential decision Congress would make regarding the Supreme Court’s decision would be unconstitutional and therefore null and void. \nOne section brought into question, Title VIII section 802, states the Congress has the authority to overrule the Supreme Court if the election commission disqualifies a party and the Supreme Court upholds that decision. The Congress needs two-thirds of the members present to overturn the disqualification.\nSenior Megan Robb, who said she has never been a member of IUSA, sent a petition to the IUSA Supreme Court arguing that section 802 was unconstitutional. Robb said according to the IUSA Constitution and according to another section of the Elections Code, the Supreme Court has final authority to settle any election disputes.\nRobb said it seemed like the IUSA Congress was using section 802 to justify holding a meeting to vote on the Supreme Court decision. The IUSA Supreme Court disqualified the Kirkwood ticket Tuesday, even though the Election Commission had previously voted not to disqualify them.\nFormer IUSA president and senior Alex Shortle also filed a petition with the IUSA Supreme Court.\nShortle said he filed the petition because the IUSA election this year has been \n“dragging on too long.” Besides section 802, Shortle also called into question sections 907 and 1104, which give Congress the authority to approve and uphold the Election Commission disqualifications.\n“Their decisions aren’t up for the confirmation of Congress,” Shortle said.\nShortle said the Elections Code was rewritten last year to give the Congress a little more power, but some of the sections were in violation of the constitution.\nSteve Veldkamp, director of student activities and assistant dean of students, said the IUSA Supreme Court has the final say in election matters.\nCurrent student body president W.T. Wright said there are flaws in the Elections Code that have to be worked out. \n“We’re in a gray area right now about what they have to interpret,” Wright said.