“a nominee may appeal any decision
of the Electoral Committee to a meet-
ing of the Representative Committee
or a general meeting of the Union.”

In other words, the entire
Representative Committee becomes
the appeal committee for the elec-
tion.

The members interpret this new
Bylaw Vil, Section 7b, to mean that
everyone on the committee, includ-
ing those newly-elected representa-
tives who were included in recounts,
could hear appeals and ratify their
own election results.

Victor DeVerger, an unsuccessful
candidate in the election, says only
non-running members should be on
the appeals committee because that’s
“correct procedure, and they can’t be
the appeal committee because they're
all candidates for the election.”

He thinks the rep committee,
“should give it to a real appeal com-
mittee. The electoral committee had
the responsibility to do that, and
they did their job well, but they [rep
committee] have to listen to them
and they didn’t do it.”

Repercussions
t the rep meeting following
A« election, memos against
invalidating the election came
forward and were read out loud.

The only representative member of
the electoral committee who was
present at that meeting was not
allowed to respond to the content of
the memos.

After discussion there was a
motion to accept the unofficial elec-
tion results and everyone present,
except guests,-was supposed to be
allowed to speak to it.

However, before the debate was
finished, Question was called and a
vote was taken on the motion on the
floor.

Under Roberts’ Rules of Order—
which the DCSS use—calling Previous

Question is a tactic used to close
debate on an issue when such a
debate has become very long.

It’s a motion that must be second-
ed, isn’t debatable, is not amendable
and requires a two-thirds majority .
vote.

The motion to accept the election
results passed, ending the debate
early before the Electoral Committee
member had a chance to speak,
prompting that rep member to leave
the room in frustration, saying, “I
quit!”

“They didn’t want to listen to her,”
says DeVerger. “They like to vote
right away so they didn’t want to
hear what she had to say.”.

Following a break, the representa-
tives held an “in-camera” session
during which time they chose to
interpret the frustrated “I quit!” of
the Electoral Committee member as a
“resignation.”

At the April 29, 1999 meeting,
this resignation was appealed on the
grounds that the rep had not speci-
fied which committee had been
“quit,” and nothing had been sub-
mitted in writing.

“Of course it’s in writing” snapped
speaker, Kelli Semple, “It’s in our
minutes.”

Wheeler verified the resignation
stating that the member was “no
longer a student and she doesn’t
qualify as a member.”

But, very few representatives or
executives take summer semester
courses and under such a ruling, it
could be claimed that they all fall
into the same category.

Who'll be taking care of business?
ccording to Wheeler, a motion
A: accept the new bylaws
passed at the special SGM on
February 25, and the new
constitution became effective

immediately.
Representatives cannot give them-

May 1999 the Other Press

selves a pay raise in, but can vote
more money for the “next” commit-
tee.

A new motion that came into
effect May 1, gives reps a 66.5%
raise, from $300 every two weeks to
$500—an increase of $100 per week.

Therefore, by declaring themselves
a new committee, the reps will
become eligible for the new pay raise.
The new board is the same old board.
Only three new people have been
elected.

Both Wheeler and ex-president,
Dave Seaweed, verified the new raise
is for an increase in hours by both
executive and representatives—from
20 to 40 hours per two weeks.

Seaweed said that he and Wheeler .
used to put in “closer to 100 hours,
including evenings and weekends.”

Much of the work fell to the exec-
utive, and Seaweed says, “The
increase in hours and pay is probably
a good thing.”

Says Wheeler, “After taxes, execu-
tives will receive approximately $812
per month for 80 hours of work
($10.25 net per hour).”

Reps will receive $600 per month
for 50 hours of work ($12 gross per
hour).

Under the old bylaws there could
be up to 32 reps and executives on
the committee. Effective May 1, the
new committee will have 13 members
according to the last election results.

New Bylaws
he new bylaws will give the rep
Tennite much greater control
of the society's finances.

Previously, the amount of money.
they were allowed to spend without
telling the student body, or posting
notices and waiting to hear from
protesting students was $3,000.

The committee has increased that
figure to $10,000 of student-raised
money. This means that virtually no
monetary decisions will go to the

page 5