The Student Service Finance Committee narrowly shot down an amendment that would change its current attendance policies, after a debate that lasted for nearly an hour Thursday.
The committee has struggled with attendance problems for over a year, and this amendment was an attempt to minimize the enforcement measures that some representatives have called “wasteful” and “unnecessary.”
The proposed policy would have allowed representatives unlimited absences as long as they were excused. Under the current policy, representatives may miss 25 percent of SSFC meetings in a given month, for any reason. Representatives who exceed that limit risk impeachment.
“We have had several impeachment trials this year and we have not impeached a single person. The students of Madison paid us to have those trials,” said Rep. Jake Victor, who introduced the legislation.
Victor was called for impeachment twice. The first time was after he missed several meetings following his grandfather’s death. For Victor, a legislation reform would have legitimized his absences and spared him from those hearings.
“From a leadership perspective, it’s really hard to tell someone that they’re up for impeachment because they had to miss three meetings because they had a family passing,” SSFC Chair Jordan Gaal said. “I see the rationale [to the amendment].”
But other members say they have missed meetings for events ranging from basketball games to concerts under the existing regulations, and not faced ramifications.
“The bylaws allowed me to go to the [DJ Khaled concert], and I did, ” Rules Committee Chair Dylan Resch said.
Those opposed to the policy argued that committee members are already held accountable by the standing legislation.
“I don’t think anyone is sitting here thinking of ways they’re going to skip out of ASM on a Thursday night,” Rep. Henry Galles said. “All of us want to be here and try to be here.”
Others added that the impeachment process gave the committee an opportunity to assess each attendance violation on a case-by-case basis.
Although the amendment failed in committee, Rep. Victor said he plans to introduce the attendance policy next year. But while Victor brought up the legislation in order to eliminate unnecessary hearings, others felt that the discussion itself was a waste of time.
“That turned into an hour of us paying ourselves to talk about attendance,” Gaal said.
