Censure filed against BUC Fund Chairman

The Student Government Association Rules and Conduct Committee filed a censure during Tuesday’s senate meeting on the removal of Sen. Garrett Parks from BUC Fund Chairman.

According to some statements made in the chamber, an allegation was made toward the Buc Fund chairman on breaking the code of conduct.

“A few weeks ago we were given a matter to investigate, and at the time, we thought what we were doing was constitutional without having guidance or never having witnessed this before,” Parliamentarian Kevin Carlson said. “We investigated and rendered an opinion, which was sent to Secretary Faircloth, who did not feel comfortable divulging it to the senate.”

The committee had met over the past week and gone through what they considered to be the most appropriate and constitutional process. However, they failed to file a censure before wanting to read a ruling.

“This is the first the committee is hearing that our process was not correct,” Carlson said.

Attorney General Pooja Shah said that the committee does not hold the power to make a recommendation and must file a censure before reading a ruling to the senate body.

Further investigation will be done by executive members in order to make sure that everything has met constitutional requirements.

“A ruling will not be read today because I would like to do some further research and make sure that both parties did this the right way,” Vice President Ryan Baird said. “It’s my decision on whether he stays chairman or not, and right now I’m leaving that up to him until a verdict is reached.”

Baird felt that the winter break would allow them more time to review the information already collected and have an accurate answer.

Carlson and President Pro Tempore Brandon Johnson filed the censure to be read aloud to the senate body during the meeting.

At this time no official information has been released on the incident pertaining to Parks. Executive members and the Rules and Conduct Committee have asked to keep information on the incident confidential.

“I would like to apologize to the entire senate for this ordeal,” Parks said. “I said some things that I should not have said, and I will not make the same mistake in the future.”