When members of the SGA Executive Board repeatedly perform poorly and engage in gross misconduct, should they be held accountable?
When members of the SGA Executive Board, to be more specific, repeatedly create an injurious climate, wantonly disregard the safety of others, attack Assembly members while performing official duties, and act in a way that constitutes a serious lapse in judgment, should they all resign?
For me, these questions have a concrete answer: yes. However, it seems as if members of the Board reached a different conclusion. Despite being compelled to resign by those affected by the repugnant actions and coarse speech of members of the SGA Executive Board, many of them have decided not to do so. SGA may fulfill its duty and obligation to create a better Connecticut College for students and a mission to increase school unity and spirit, but when it comes to intragovernmental affairs and the Executive Board as a whole, issues continuously arise.
The most recent and provocative example of gross misconduct and wrongdoing arose after screenshots of messages from a private GroupMe chat for Executive Board members was released to a handful of students. The content of the conversations, in my opinion, are to be considered despicable, insensitive, and vicious! Some of the messages included snarky witticisms, personal and character attacks, and even alluded to members “forcing” students they liked to comply, a suggestion advanced by the President. The latter messages were followed with a joking and trivializing deploy of a “red dot” alert. This raises red flags for me; given rape culture on college campuses, it is never acceptable to allude to or even attempt to discuss forcing oneself to violate another’s bodily autonomy. Nevertheless, the Board still found a way to play “victim,” and referred to protesters and legitimate victims as “petty” during Thursday’s Assembly meeting.
This shortcoming and indiscipline is so egregious that it both warrants and justifies the resignation and/or impeachment of the President and all elected Executive Board members who engaged in gross misconduct evidenced by the GroupMe chat. In order to understand why the Board must resign, we need first understand the gravity and potential impact of their deliberate and shameful actions. The main role of the SGA, as student leaders, is to work to ensure a healthy college environment for all students socially, academically and when producing co-curricular policies.
However, major fissures exist amongst the Assembly. Distrust and discomfort are at its peak due to the cliquish nature of the Exec Board, which ultimately produced the poisonous environment that initiated this debacle. All things considered, it is no exaggeration to presume the Executive Board incapable of fulfilling its duties. Yet not everyone agrees that this is true. During Thursday’s meeting, members of the Board decided to fight against those with genuine grievances by playing the victim.
I listened in on the meeting with disgust and contempt. Members of the board avoided responsibility and decided they were not in the “right state of mind” to produce a concrete decision – offering to wait until spring semester to make a decision. However, they seemed to be in the “right state of mind” when they were sending reckless text messages during an SGA meeting. The Board seemed to represent its own words at that moment: “slicker than slick.”
The President and Vice President laughed and cried as they expressed their feelings to members of the Assembly. I found the entire thing to be a huge slap in the face to those that were wronged and slighted by “senior” members of the Assembly. To be quite frank, I found their actions and perhaps even the entire meeting to be a disingenuous charade.
Above all, it is pertinent to remember that students, whom you may have voted into office to represent you and to uphold a sense of integrity, accountability and community, deliberately and calculatingly disregarded that duty. Members of the SGA Executive Board actually harmed members of the Assembly so severely that they resigned their positions as our representatives due to the harsh conditions that exist on Thursdays in Ernst Common Room. The SGA Constitution holds that the President and all elected Executive Board members may be impeached for gross misconduct related to the specific Board member’s office. Members of the Board commenced a verbal assault against their colleagues and must be held accountable.
Regardless of what you may think of SGA, seeking the removal of representatives who have engaged in negative acts at the expense of their own colleagues is the appropriate way of ensuring accountability. We, as members of this institution, have the ability to show those harmed that we care by supporting resignations and moving to replace old leadership with leaders who have the potential to rectify the situation and ensure it never arises again.
I invite anyone who has been bullied, hurt, and/or vulnerable to stand in solidarity with those who have been slighted by these leaders and contact your House Senators and ask them to take the necessary steps to oust members of the toxic regime. •
