On March 20, SGC-MMC Presidential candidate Samir Kiran Patel submitted, and The Beacon published a Letter to the Editor, entitled “SGC-MMC Presidential Hopeful feels wrongly accused.
The intention of the Writ is to address issues of violations of SGC-MMC, university and state policy. As Student Body President and Student Trustee, Mr. O’Keefe is obligated to do all that he can to preserve the integrity and legitimacy of SGC-MMC and the larger SGA. This Writ, as filed, simply aims to ensure that SGC-MMC, inclusive of student government officials, remains accountable and transparent to the student body.
At current, the Coalition of Students for Reform does not disclose its meeting minutes or locations, minutes of prior meetings, current active members, or financing. Furthermore, CSR caucus members convene to vote on an agenda, but there is not record of this. And if in fact this activity did occur, it was done in a private meeting, which clearly violates sunshine law.
As a member of the Board of Trustees, Student Trustee O’Keefe is required to disclose any financial, or other type of business relations that he has with a business or organization that could represent a conflict of interest in any way, shape, or form. This is the same type of transparency required by student government officials.
Furthermore, Presidential hopeful Patel accuses the current administration of being fearful of change, but we encourage you to review the facts. First, President O’Keefe’s election to the Office of Student Body President was the first contested since 2008. Second, and most importantly, since taking office in the spring of 2011, the O’Keefe administration has made significant strides with regard to transparency, as the student body budget, cabinet reports, and even a programming tracker are all available on-line at sga.fiu.edu.
And while President O’Keefe himself will admit that there is much to be done with regard to transparency and accountability, one must recognize the fact that significant strives have been made towards ensuring that SGC-MMC is accountable to the student body.
Lastly, Presidential hopeful Patel is resolute in his assertion that members of SGC-MMC are conspiring against CSR. To be completely clear, President O’Keefe is not an advocate against the existence and formation of political parties at FIU, as he believes that student expression, as guaranteed to all Americans by the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is a right that each student, as members of the university community, are entitled to. The issue at hand is that said expression isn’t taking place in compliance with SGC-MMC, university, and state regulations.
The O’Keefe administration sees CSR as the beginning of the movement amongst students at FIU to organize themselves into political associations, so as to affect SGC-MMC, SGA and university policy; and rightfully so, SGA and the university derives its power from the students. What we don’t want, however, is the establishment of political parties to start on the wrong foot, and furthermore, to leave students, faculty and administration with the impression that these types of organizations are harmful to the university community because of the actions of one organization.
We urge the student body and the university community to investigate this situation and formulate opinions about the Writ and CSR independent of subjective influences.
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