Associated Students Inc. Senators voted to keep Senator at-large Aaron Jordan in his position after he missed four Senate meetings, an action which provided grounds for a vote to take place deciding whether he remains in the group.
According to Chapter 2, Article 1, Section 8 of the Associated Students Inc. 2018-2019 Bylaws: “the Senate will declare vacant the office of any Senator who misses no less than three meetings during an academic semester, including summer and winter sessions. The proposed removal of the Senator will be placed on the agenda of a regularly scheduled Senate meeting for deliberation and action. The Senator’s removal will be subject to a 2/3 majority vote of the Senate.”
Jordan, who has been involved in ASI since January, said that his absences were due to financial insecurities after his Cal Grant was denied.
“[The lack of financial aid] forced me to take out another student loan and obtain another job, on top of the one I already had, in order to pay for my education,” Jordan said.
Jordan missed meetings on Aug. 8, Sept. 5, Sept. 12 and Sept. 26 due to scheduling conflicts with his jobs as a barista and as an assistant cross country and track coach. The university policy on absences only includes severe illness, death, injury, religious reasons, government obligations and university-sanctioned activities as excused absences.
“I do not have any more scheduling conflicts with work this semester, so I am able to be present for the remainder of the academic year, including spring,” Jordan said.
According to ASI Vice President and Chair Leen Almahdi, Jordan received a warning email on Sept. 15 after his third missed meeting. He received another email from Almahdi on Sept. 21 to confirm that he had received the initial email and to attempt to set up a meeting time to discuss the absences.
Jordan responded on Sept. 25 to inform Almahdi of his fourth absence. A meeting was confirmed Sept. 26, 11 days after the initial warning email.
“When we do apply to these positions, we sign a waiver or form saying that we understand mandatory meetings are on a certain day,” Almahdi said. “It’s a contract. It’s a commitment to the students that we will be there for them and to vote on behalf of them in these meetings and present for our core responsibility, which is to be present at these meetings.”
Issues also arose regarding a senator during spring 2018 who missed four meetings and was not held to the same standard as Jordan. The former senator was able to make up office hours, submit late reports and catch up with their responsibilities, senator at-large Melissa Mejia said.
After 30 minutes of deliberation on the senate floor, ASI Executive Director Richard Haller stepped in to clear up discrepancies in senators’ suggestions for how to move forward.
“We have a factual matter. We have a member who missed three or more meetings, according to the bylaws, it has to come to the floor of the senate,” Haller said. “It may not have happened last year when it should have happened. That was a mistake of that vice president. But [Almahdi] is upholding the true intent and spirit of the bylaws.”
Senators mentioned delaying the hearing, putting Jordan on a probationary period and further investigating the financial difficulties he was facing.
“You think this is is an option. This is not an option. Your bylaws state that the senate will declare vacant the seat of any senator that has missed three or more senate meetings,” Haller said. “Whether or not you uphold that is why you have a vote.”
In the moments before the final vote, senators took a final opportunity to voice support for removing Jordan from the position.
“We need to put all our personal matters aside,” Senator at-large Omar Prudencio Gonzalez said. “When you do vote, please vote with putting the interest of all students first, and vote to uphold the constitution and bylaws that you are entrusted to uphold.”
A two-thirds vote was required to vacate Jordan’s position. When it came time to decide, senators voted 10-6 in favor of Jordan maintaining the position of senator at-large.
This story was updated Oct. 7 at 3:56 p.m. The ASI Senate did not break any of their bylaws. It is up to their discretion whether or not to remove a senator, and a proposed removal must go through a 2/3 majority vote of the Senate.