SGA Constitutional Violations

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Emerson College’s student newspaper since 1947 • berkeleybeacon.com

Thursday, February 20, 2020 • Volume 73, Issue 19

Treasurer refrains from hiring team, cements her power Tomas Gonzalez, Beacon Staff SGA Executive Treasurer Abigail Semple, who has voiced complaints throughout the 2019-20 academic year regarding the workload associated with her position, will not hire a treasury team during her second semester on the job—effectively consolidating her power around a million dollars in student organization funding. The treasury team, an asset commonly used by past executive treasurers, leaves Semple in charge of processing paperwork for nearly 100 organizations on campus. The move protects her from any challenges regarding her eligibility, either via impeachment or clauses surrounding ineligibility, as there is no person immediately available to assume the role of treasurer. While Semple did not deny that the move is an effort to solidify power to protect herself from a removal process, she told The Beacon in an interview Wednesday that she has said it to SGA members in the past as a joke. “I joke a lot, I feel like that’s really been the theme of the semester,” she said. “I say a lot of things that are jokes but consolidating power so I can’t get impeached. Yeah, it’s not funny at all.” SGA Advisor Jason Meier said he has heard about Semple’s intentions behind not hiring a treasury team and would not deny the validity of the claim. See Power, page 2

SGA KNOWINGLY IGNORED RULES DURING ELECTIONS Andrew Brinker, Beacon Staff An examination of the recent execution of SGA’s election policies revealed a systemic, and at times purposeful, failure to adhere to elections protocols—exposing much of its executive membership as illegitimately elected and the oftentimes vague framing of the constitution. The string of oversights effectively delegitimize the results of the spring and fall 2019 general elections, which determined the entirety of SGA’s current membership, including the executive board and Executive President Will Palauskas.

While it is unclear whether or not members of SGA were aware of the constitutional oversights during the time of the fall 2019 general election, former Chief Justice Brilee Carey claimed SGA was fully aware of an oversight previously reported by The Beacon. In an article published Feb. 6, The Beacon reported that Executive Treasurer Abigail Semple is illegitimately holding her position as she did not meet the constitutionally outlined qualifications for the treasurership. Article VII Section II Point E of the constitution states that in order for a student to run and hold the position of executive treasurer, they must be enrolled in at least 12 credits at the

college for the duration of their term. Semple is currently only enrolled in eight credits, rendering her ineligible to serve as the executive treasurer. Carey said she brought a concern regarding Semple’s eligibility to the organization’s former advisor Sharon Duffy when she was the chief justice at the time of the Spring 2019 election— when Semple was elected. The issue caused a rift within SGA, Carey said, but the organization chose to move forward with Semple still in the election, despite her violation of the constitutional requirements for her position. See Protocols, page 2

Alumni create the Pictures Up! film festival Casey Bernhard, Beacon Correspondent

Women’s basketball leads Division III in GPA By Emily Cardona, pg. 8

ucation requirement work with classes of 30 or 40 students, teaching introductory code.” At 60 years old, with no plans of moving out of his house, he accepted an offer to join the Fall 2020 faculty at Bennington College. Bennington is an hour away versus the nearly two hour drive to Emerson, plus Mahoney said the Vermont college is expanding their computer science program. Aside from the difference in commute and his field of study not being offered as a major at Emerson, he said there were stark institutional differences between the two merging schools for him and other professors to consider.

Griffin and Alyssa Devine ‘10 were directing a play in late 2017 at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre in West Hollywood when the theatre’s staff expressed interest in hosting a film festival— the opportunity was too good to pass up for the Emerson alumni. Less than three years later, the duo is set to launch Picture’s Up!, a film festival that will give people the chance to showcase their work to industry professionals in the hopes of furthering their careers. The festival is set to take place from April 3-5 at the Marilyn Monroe Theater in the Lee Strasberg Creative Center in West Hollywood. “A lot of festivals tout networking opportunities, and there are a lot of [them], but it’s [with] other filmmakers,” Alyssa said in a skype interview from LA. “You know, it’s great to meet [them] and be inspired, but you want to gain some traction, some upward mobility.” After graduating, the pair made their rounds at festivals by writing, directing, and producing shorts, but they often left disappointed. Poor attendance at screenings and a lack of recognition beyond awards ceremonies often meant nothing more ever came of the experience.

See Mahoney, page 2

See Submission, page 6

Professors consider job choices Maxwell Carter, The Marlboro Monitor Marlboro Professor Jim Mahoney watched his world fall apart as the proposed Emerson-Marlboro merger progressed over the past few months, forcing him to count his blessings and prepare for life after the potential closure of the Vermont campus. “For many of us it’s not just a school closing,” Mahoney said in a phone interview with The Beacon. “It’s our community, our center for a very long time… so it’s very hard.” Emerson guaranteed positions for all tenured and tenure-track professors, according to the presidents of both schools, and faculty are now deciding what their next steps will be. Mahoney

is one of two Marlboro professors who have made their decision. The rest have until the May merger deadline to decide whether they’ll take Emerson’s offer. After 32 years, Mahoney decided not to join his Marlboro colleagues in attempting to redesign the school in Boston. As painful as this process has been for him, he told The Beacon his decision was pretty straightforward. “I did talk to some of the Emerson people and explored what it would be like to go there, but teaching at Emerson would have been very different, for me anyways, than teaching at [Marlboro]” Mahoney said. “Emerson’s not offering any science majors, so it would have been mostly supporting introductory and general ed-

INSIDE THIS EDITION

In-person conversations are essential for conflict resolution Pg. 5

The Beacon online

Alum draws inspiration from mother for feature film Pg. 7

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