The Student Government Association, Vice President Aaron Caton and Attorney General Jarrod Suits were found not guilty on all charges in Monday’s Student Court case.
The three defendants were sued by Sen. Christopher Beumer on the grounds of illegal procedures concerning emergency legislation. The court had to decide if Caton acted according to the SGA Code of Laws. He was also charged with abuse of power. Suits allegedly did not properly adhere to the bill numbers.
The court decided that the officers followed the Code of Laws as best they could. Suits was not at fault because the numbers assigned to the bill numbers were incorrect due to the sponsors.
The court decided that both Caton and Suits followed the Constitution and the Code of Laws to the best of their abilities.
“In regards to our argument, the only thing that Aaron and I did was to concentrate on the truth and rule of law,” Suits said. “With those two assets, we were able to bring victory to the SGA.”
The court also suggested that the SGA try to resolve problems and conflicts themselves and use the Student Court as a last resort.
“Members of SGA should not lean on outside sources in regards to how the Constitution should be interpreted,” said Andrew Dyer, chief justice of the Student Court. “In the future, if problems arise, one should look to fellow SGA members for resolutions.”
Caton agreed. “The ruling in this case sends a clear message to anyone who feels the only way to solve something is through the courts,” he said. “Our society has begun turning to the courts for solutions that could be reached otherwise. This case was one of those instances, and the court made a sound, objective ruling.”
Beumer could not be reached for comment.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Sen. Chris Ziegler gave an update to the Senate on behalf of the court-ordered special committee that has been given the task of solving the Summer 606 dilemma.
The Student Court ordered that the committee must give an update to the Senate each week until the matter is settled.
“The commission is diligently working hard to correct the problems with current 606 legislation,” said Suits, who also serves as adviser for the special committee.
Ziegler said that the committee had come up with four different possibilities at this point.
The first idea was to create a special 606 committee that would be in complete control of 606 funding. It would make its own decisions and not have to report to the Senate for approval.
The second possibility was to create a mandatory summer SGA meeting at which senators would be required to attend. Summer 606 funding allocations would be discussed at this meeting.
The third consideration was to simply strike Summer 606 altogether.
The fourth idea was more complicated.
It involved delaying the swearing in of new officers elected during the spring.
This would allow the officers already in office to preside over a last 606 meeting.
The committee is making progress with the issue.
“This is a good positive act that will benefit the student body in the long run,” Sen. Tiffany Porter said. “We are doing our best to serve the students to the best of our abilities and we think this 606 special committee will accomplish many great things.” Ziegler also swore in Sen. Renate Bennett as the chair of the Suggestions and Grievances Committee and Sen. Megan McEntire into the Senate Review Committee.
Caton said that now that the court case is finished, the SGA can move on with its job.
“I am pleased with the results of this case,” he said. “Now that we have it behind us, I hope we can continue our work for the student body.
These frivolous cases hinder our work and prohibit us from keeping our commitment to the students.

Author