Former Coordinating Council member Levi O’Brien stepped forward last Thursday, saying he was ineligible for the seat he held during the summer.

According to O’Brien, Student Government Association speaker Jared Nokes pulled him over to the side during one of the council’s first meetings during the summer and said, “You know you’re not supposed to be filling this seat, right?”

“I asked him if he wanted me to step down and he said he wanted the seat filled and he wanted me to remain,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien said he did not believe quorum would have held had he not been there. Nokes disagreed.

If quorum – which is one more seat than half the voting body – is not held, any vote or decision made without it is rendered invalid. According to Nokes, quorum is three people on this year’s specific council, which he said was exceeded at all of the meetings.

ALANA member Rene Gonzalez interpreted the bylaws as meaning all the members, of which there should be 12, including Nokes, counted for the quorum. The council as defined in the bylaws should contain the speaker, the chairs of the five committees, two senators from the Senate at large and four members appointed by the ALANA caucus. In this case, quorum would be met only at 6.5.

Previously, Nokes had said that Attorney General Mark Morrison sent around an internal memo that declared O’Brien and former SGA Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Brian Thompson ineligible to serve on the council. Nokes said he had not realized they were ineligible until that time. Thompson is not at the University of Massachusetts this semester and therefore cannot act on the council.

When asked why O’Brien was ineligible Nokes said, “It depends on how you look at it. The way I read it, I didn’t see it.”

“Everything that happened before is going to stand,” Nokes said.

When asked about the Coordinating Council’s meetings, Nokes admitted that the beginning of the summer was “very confusing” when it came to figuring out who could serve on the council.

Nokes also said, “I don’t think it was improper on my part or his [Levi’s] part.”

“I was essentially holding what would have been a vacant seat over the summer,” O’Brien said. “It was allowed to happen. I was never eligible to serve on the Coordinating Council.”

The bylaws say: “In the event a Coordinating Council member, other than the Speaker or the Associate Speaker, is unable to serve for the term of the Special Period, the Speaker shall, upon a majority vote of the Senate membership in attendance at a scheduled meeting in Regular Period, appoint a Senator to fill the seat.”

Levi O’Brien was not the chair of the Administrative Affairs Committee; he was the Deputy Chair. The former chair was Chris Eckel, who became Associate Speaker at the last meeting. Therefore, O’Brien could have taken the position, had the Senate voted for him.

This is not what occurred. A tape from UVC-TV clearly shows that adjournment is first called for by Nokes.

According to Eduardo Bustamante – who played the tape during the ALANA meeting last week – after the meeting was adjourned, Nokes said, “I need all Coordinating Council members to come and see me.”

He follows that by saying: “Levi, come up here. You’ve been promoted.”

The Senate never voted on Levi’s promotion, which the bylaws say is necessary. Levi was also not announced as being on the council until after the meeting was officially adjourned. Nokes had said that an appointment for the council be made before the end of the last meeting. He said this was why he barred four ALANA caucus members from being on the council.

According to Gladys Franco, chairwoman of the ALANA caucus, she had already picked out the four people for the council and did not realize she had to approach Nokes with the names before the end of the meeting.

In a previous article, Speaker Jared Nokes told the Collegian that once a seat on the council is vacant, it must remain vacant. Title II, Chapter 12, Section six explains this requirement.

According to the bylaws, “Coordinating Council seats vacated during the term of the Special Period shall remain vacant for the term of the Special Period.” The bylaws define the special period as “the calendar period extending from the final meeting of the Senate in the Regular Period, to the first meeting of the Senate in the subsequent Regular Period.” The council acts as the Senate at-large during this Special Period.

Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Campus Life Michael Gargano said he offered Nokes “an opportunity to educate and take the higher ground. He could address it in a proactive way, and leave the SGA out of it.”

Gargano proposed an open forum debate amongst area professors and scholars with students present.

While Nokes considered this option, he ultimately rejected it because he did not want the issue to become a matter of public opinion.

“Whenever you have issues of this nature it shouldn’t be done during the summer, you need to have the student body at large around,” Gargano said.

“I think we should retain the ALANA seats this year and develop communication,” he said.

Gargano called the whole thing “back-door politics” and said it was “very underhandedly done.”

“If they want to change the bylaws and eliminate the ALANA caucus I won’t sign it. I really think the ALANA caucus should remain,” Gargano said.