The previous LUCC administration violated handbook procedures on several occasions when appointing committee members, and in standard meeting procedures, an investigation launched by The Lawrentian revealed. The investigation was a result of a comment made at LUCC’s April 11 meeting by current President Cole DeLaney.Delaney, who warned his colleagues that he did not wish them to suffer “culture shock,” noted that some things had been done improperly in LUCC’s past.
When asked to elaborate on his comment in a recent interview, Delaney said: “When I say things [were] done wrong, I am most concerned about committee appointments,” adding, “certain aspects of LUCC were distasteful in how they were run in the past.”
According to Delaney, LUCC’s past administration did not follow correct parliamentary procedure when electing students to the Committee on Committees, a group whose members are responsible for organizing and overseeing other LUCC committees. Instead, Delaney says there was “no application process, and more importantly, no recruitment process. When new appointments were made, we didn’t know anything about the people or who they were.” He added that when new students were appointed to committees, COC was given short notice and little time to consider the new appointments, saying: “It was basically a process where anyone who shows interest automatically gets on a committee, and looking at the whole committee structure, you realize that the people appointed to these committees were extremely important.”
When questioned about LUCC’s past administrative procedures, former LUCC president Chris Worman made several comments. Concerning committee recruitment processes, Worman said: “In terms of how people were appointed, names were submitted, people were asked and approached directly, and also contacted us,” commenting that LUCC “mainly looked for people who might be interested.” He also noted that: “When one is filling such committees one tends to find the problem that not many LU students are able to do things because of time commitments.”
When asked to comment about the formation of the committee in charge of formal group housing, where no standard selection or recruitment process was employed, Worman said that he had been asked that day to find non-Greek and younger students to be on the committee, and thus approached people who would fit that description to be on the committee, adding that the committee appointment process “depended on the situation,” and whether or not there had been a formal or last minute request for students to serve on committees.
Also brought into question by DeLaney was the number of times the Committee on Committees met. COC’s duties, as described in LU’s student handbook, are: “To appoint members of LUCC standing and ad hoc committees, student members of university committees, and upon written request of the university president or the faculty secretary, to nominate or appoint student members of presidential or faculty committees,” (page 100). Prior to third term, the committee met once in the past two years. Comments Worman: “COC was not horribly active when I was around due to my interpretation of its duty and status quo. In years past it was not horribly necessary to have them meet.”
Finance Committee, the group in charge of allocating funds to student groups, was another faction of LUCC not being conducted according to proper procedure when LUCC’s administrative turnover took place at the beginning of third term. Explains Delaney: “In years past, LUCC decided whether or not to approve things that were brought before the finance committee, but that’s not how LUCC’s constitution works. Finance committee is supposed to meet and reach a decision which they bring to LUCC.” Delaney went on to say that if LUCC disagreed with the Finance Committee’s decision, LUCC needed a two-thirds agreement to override it.
On matters concerning Finance Committee’s legislative powers, LU’s student handbook states: “The council accepts or rejects by majority vote the annual budget and the annual requests for funds from the university proposed by the committee. Other decisions of the Finance Committee are overruled by a two-thirds majority of the council,” (page 101).
Thus far, many of discrepancies between old and new LUCC procedure have been addressed. COC meets regularly, steps have been taken to modify the committee appointment process, and finance committee’s decisions now require a two-thirds vote to be overruled.