Meeting attendance policy reviewed after spat

The USG considered an amendment to its constitution Sunday that would clarify disciplinary measures over Senate members' attendance at meetings.

The amendment is intended to address members' confusion following a move to dismiss the two Class of 2006 senators at the last senate meeting.

USG President Matt Margolin '05 informed Class of 2006 Senator Camille Coates that she had been dismissed Oct. 10, only to be reinstated the following day when the Executive Committee reviewed its voting procedure and realized it had made a mistake.

Though six officers had poor enough attendance to merit review, Coates and Class of 2006 Senator Mike Murray were the only officers officially informed that they were under review before the meeting. Coates and Murray both had excused absences for the Oct. 10 meeting.

Before voting on the amendment Sunday, the Senate passed a motion "to wipe clean" all attendance records and not to discuss the absences of the four senate members' — Jennifer Albinson '05, Derek Jun '05, Brandon Parry '06 and Sandy Gibson '06 — who were also under review.

"This was always an attempt to clarify what is involved in being a member of the USG and what is expected of them," Margolin said. "We are taking attendance at meetings more strictly, and I myself did not intend to pursue the removal of any officers."

The constitutional amendment specifies that any voting Senate member who misses two consecutive meetings or four meetings in total during their elected term will be subject to censure. An absence will be recorded unless the officer arranges for a class officer to attend the meeting in their place.

Proposing the motion, U-Council Representative to the Executive Committee Brandon Parry '06 stressed this is an optional censuring mechanism intended to clear up any confusion caused by last meeting's events.

"I think we owe it to future administrations to clarify how they should approach attendance," he said.

The amendment also defines what constitutes an official notification.

Both Coates and Murray said they had not realized that their attendance record would be discussed by the Senate while they were absent.

Coates was attending a human rights forum and Murray was at a core group meeting for Wilson College RCAs.

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"The decision was rather rash," USG Vice President Shaun Callaghan '06 said. "First of all, the two students who were brought up formally were not in attendance, which was unfair. I also don't think we had all the rules straight."

The events of the Oct. 10 meeting also forced the Executive Committee to review its definition of majority votes, under which Coates and Murray's cases were considered.

Coates was told she had been dismissed after receiving eight votes in favor of her remaining on the Senate, four against and four abstentions out of 16 possible votes. Murray received 11 votes in his favor.

After the meeting, Executive Secretary Tom Brown '07 realized that under Robert's Rules of Order — a book of standardized procedures which governs USG practices — abstentions should not be counted in the total vote tally, and therefore Coates had received a majority to support her retention.

"Attendance is an important part of a senator's duty," Coates said. "But it is also important to deal constructively with campus issues at large, and I think we just need to move on from this issue now."

The Senate is set to vote on the amendment motion at its next meeting.