The Undergraduate Student Government office is decorated for Halloween in the Student Union on Oct. 30, 2018. Last week the USG judiciary found that president Priyanka Thakkar acted unconstitutionally when she appointed Walter Dodson as interim comptroller. Photo by Judah Shingleton/The Daily Campus
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) has been getting a lot of heat recently following the impeachment of their former comptroller. Due to many factors, both known and unknown, navigating the right path through this situation has been difficult to say the least. Tensions have been running high among those involved in or aware of the situation, and this leaves space for plenty of misinformation.
With this impeachment, USG was tasked with patching up the hole left by the comptroller’s exit. USG President Priyanka Thakkar decided to appoint an interim-comptroller, Chief of Staff Walter Dodson, until someone new is elected to fill the permanent position. This was done by executive order in order to fill the spot quickly. However, such a move was found unconstitutional by the USG Judiciary Committee.
To be clear, this is not a big deal. The crux of the issue was that the issue of filling this emptied position was new and unknown, and the bylaws of USG left space such that the correct course of action was unsure. While there was a disagreement on this solution, the important thing is that a solution was found quickly and approved soon thereafter. The Senate amended the bylaws such that a more limited role of acting comptroller would be elected within the senate (after being nominated by the president of USG), should this situation arise again.
The important takeaway is that the issue of Dodson’s appointment is now a non-issue, an internal disagreement that was quickly alleviated. This is especially important given the importance of the position of comptroller. Many would argue that one of USG’s primary day-to-day duties is to distribute funds to groups around campus, and having an acting comptroller is key to this.
This is how USG should strive to act, working together to quickly fix internal issues and moving their focus to their relationship with undergraduates and the university. They should act transparently and deftly. They should be strong in their actions, such that the university actually gives them (and by extension, undergraduates as a whole) the respect we need on this campus.
To that end, The Daily Campus urges more deftness and clarity on the part of USG. This comptroller situation has been difficult, and the continued murkiness around the situation is still disconcerting. Hopefully, with strength and cooperation as a group, USG can work past it to achieve its goals on behalf of students.
