Hundreds Demand SBG Resignations

Tonight, 8 members of the USG Assembly were served with a petition signed by 595 undergraduate students demanding their resignations. Having caught wind ahead of time, some of individuals and their associates scrambled to censor or limit the public’s delivery of these signatures, however cooler heads prevailed and the speaker was allowed to speak and present the signatures.

These members of the Undergraduate Student Government still refuse to resign. They continued in their quest to exact retribution against their formal election rivals and forced the resignation of USG VP Kevin Lee. This injustice cannot stand.

We will continue to collect signatures. We will continue to demand the resignation of all who were involved in the 2009 Election scandals and never paid any consequences for their violations. To read/watch the speech that was delivered to SBG as well as witness their attempts to hide the truth, invite people to speak with them privately rather than publicly, and imply that those who would oppose them are irrational, please read on…

Over the summer, a sign was hung outside the door of the Students for Better Government office which read, “One-thousand one-hundred twenty-five votes were cast, but in the end only five mattered.” This was a reference to the Election Planning Commission’s decision to disqualify the candidacy of several individuals who sit on this very government today. This sign demonstrates that the members and associates of the organization which calls itself Students for Better Government still do not believe that they or their campaign did anything wrong during the 2009 election.

The problem with this statement is that it ignores exactly what the EPC’s decision actually was.

The EPC’s was not voting in the election.
Their decision was not a judgment on the qualifications of the candidates in question.
Their decision was not a judgment of whether or not to count certain votes.
Their decision was a judgment on whether or not election rules and University policies were followed.
Every politician who commits a crime likely has received thousands if not millions of votes. Does this excuse their bad behavior and place them above the law?

If these thousands of votes did not matter or did not count in the 2009 election, the blame does not lie with the ones who fulfilled their duties and passed judgment on these crimes. The blame lies with the individuals who broke the rules in the first place and committed the violations. They are the ones who made those votes not count.

Under mountains of evidence, the members of SBG were convicted for several violations of election rules and university policies. Those are the facts, that is the history, and it cannot be changed.

That is not the whole story, though. Because of simple bureaucratic technicalities, SBG members avoided conviction for the worst crimes their campaign committed. Namely, stealing hundreds of dollars from the University in the form of illegal color photocopies of campaign fliers, and violating numerous Campus Housing rules as well as the privacy of hundreds, if not thousands of residents by disturbing them in their rooms and soliciting their votes between midnight and 1am on Election day.

Eventually, despite our distaste for the consequences, if we are in the wrong, then we are bound by honor to accept the blame for our contributions to wrongdoing. Numerous violations did occur. They were perpetrated directly by individuals in this room, or they were perpetrated indirectly through members of the SBG campaign and students acting as agent on behalf and for the benefit of the members of SBG. SBG’s campaign had a clear distinct message and that was that they were all in the campaign together. They all benefited from each other’s support, but the flip-side of this is that they must all share responsibility for each other’s mistakes. That is what allegiance is. The guilt is equally shared by all.

After the disqualification of nine candidates, ONLY due to the fact that six of those candidates ran in uncontested races, they were given a second chance. Their convictions were not overturned, but their punishments were mitigated. You see, just because some members of SBG were allowed to serve on this Assembly did not mean that they were no longer guilty. Violations still occurred, and these individuals were still guilty of their participation in these violations. That is why these individuals were required to attend mandatory ethics classes in the hope that they would learn from their mistakes and move on.

Has anyone taken responsibility for the mistakes they have made?

Clearly, they have not. These members of the Assembly have abused the mercy shown to them and used it to help their disqualified friends gain positions of power in government. Furthermore, they have used their numbers to back up threats against their former political rivals, pressuring them to resign or face a degrading and stressful impeachment process.

All anyone ever expected of you was to get to work representing the interests of students. Because you have chosen to distract from that mission in order to undermine your political rivals and undermine the decision of the EPC by avoiding the just consequences for your violations, the people have a right to review and to judge your actions and decide for themselves if you should continue to represent them.

In the end, you are representatives of the undergraduate students of UIC, and you are duty bound to adhere to their requests. Your participation in the violations of the 2009 Elections has betrayed the essential trust that is necessary to be a representative of your constituents.

I have in my hand 595 signatures collected in just 5 days all demanding your resignations. The petition reads:

“We, the undersigned, demand the immediate resignation of all USG members who were found guilty of or were involved in the violation of the University and USG Election Policies. These individuals include, but are not limited to: Joel Ebert, Sean Murray, Cecilia Real, Danielle Schubert, Geoff Berkheimer, Heather Kaufman, & Megan Calcaterra

595 signatures collected in only 5 days.
Will you submit to the demands of the students you claim to represent and resign your posts in government?
Will you question the intelligence of THESE 595 undergraduate students for their decision to exercise their democratic right to sign this petition?

We all have made bad choices at one time or another, and often times there are unpleasant consequences that just don’t seem fair. This is not a request that you stop being passionate, good intentioned students. This is not a request that you stop pursuing doing good things at UIC. This is simply a request that you not represent us as voting members of our government. Resign from your positions in government and find another way to be effective leaders on the UIC campus. The opportunities are there waiting for you.

Unfortunately, you lost the privilege to pursuing this one.

That does not mean you cannot restore your honor and integrity by doing the right thing.
The choice is yours. It is not too late to make the right one.
Please, take responsibility for your actions. Do the honorable thing.
Listen to the demands of your constituents.