Opinion ID: 1426237
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Actions of the Student Government and CSI Administration

Text: On April 28, 1997, the editors of the College Voice were informed by a representative at their printer that, although the issue had been printed and was ready for delivery, Student Government Publications Commissioner Juergen Schnetzer had directed the printer not to release the issue. Schnetzer was running for re-election on the SFS slate. On April 29, the attorney for the College Voice editors faxed a letter to CSI President Marlene Springer informing her that student government officials had directed the printer to impound the issue and requesting that she order the immediate release of the newspaper. The letter was copied to various other individuals, including CSI Vice President for Student Affairs Carol Jackson and Student Government President Joseph Canale. President Springer consulted with Vice President Jackson and directed Jackson to ensure that the newspaper be released from the printer. Jackson spoke with both Canale and Schnetzer, but Schnetzer refused to rescind his order impounding the issue. Later that day (April 29), the Student Senate met in closed session to consider the administration's request to override Schnetzer's decision. The Student Senate refused to overrule the impound order. Immediately following the Student Senate meeting, Vice President Jackson informed Canale that President Springer was overriding the Student Senate's decision and that the newspaper would be delivered to the CSI campus. Jackson directed college employees to retrieve the newspapers from the printer and bring them to campus, which they did later that afternoon. After the College Voice was delivered to campus, Andre Woods, an incumbent member of the Student Senate running for re-election on the SFS slate, filed a complaint with the SERC. His complaint alleged that the May 1997 issue of the College Voice violated Election Rule 2, which provided that [t]he campus newspaper may not be used as posters on walls, bulletin boards, etc. and may not be used as a means to distribute campaign flyers. Woods requested that any candidate found in that aforementioned issue of the College Voice by any means such as a Platform Statement or otherwise be disqualified from the ongoing elections. The SERC considered Woods's complaint regarding the alleged Rule 2 violations at a meeting on April 30, 1997, and declined to sustain it. But the SERC passed a resolution declaring that [t]he College Voice used student activity fee funds allocated to promote the election of particular candidates affiliated with the College Voice  and adjourned until the next day to consider further action on the complaint. On May 1, the SERC met again and passed a motion to postpone the election and to consider those ballots cast null and void as it is the committee's decision that the electoral process had been compromised beyond its ability to be fair to all candidates. The polls were closed for approximately two-and-a-half hours until President Springer ordered that they be reopened (after receiving a faxed appeal from plaintiffs' attorney and hearing protests from students who arrived at her office). She declared that she would rule on all election appeals after the election had concluded on May 3. President Springer directed Vice President Jackson to preserve the election results in case she reversed the SERC's determination on appeal. Springer set a deadline of May 5, 1997 for students to submit appeals from the SERC determination. Her office received a number of submissions from students, including an appeal from the plaintiffs' lawyer and letters from other students in support of and in opposition to the SERC's determination.