Student Council Executive Vice President Rebeen Pasha retained his position as EVP last night despite rumors of a possible motion to impeach him. Pasha replied to concerns about his performance during his weekly report to Council's representative body.
"I wanted to address some of the things on my behalf," Pasha said. "I've had some major personal issues that have prevented me from performing my duties to the best of my abilities."
Pasha has recently drawn criticism from Council's representative body.
"There is the perception that he is biased while chairing meetings," said a Council officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. "There were worries about his job performance, about his chairing the appropriations appeals process and a general failure to perform basic duties."
Pasha dealt with many of Council's concerns about his performance spring semester in his speech last night.
"I realize there are some things I need to work on," he said. "I apologize that the agendas did not go out on time in February. I will work on getting that together."
Pasha also addressed the recent controversy concerning the passage of a referendum that would make the First-Year Council President and the Transfer Student Liaison voting members on Council's representative body. Pasha previously ruled the referendum had not passed because less than two-thirds of the entire voting population actually voted in favor of the measure, although 73.7 percent of students who voted on the question voted yes.
"I think it is in the best interest of the student body to regard the question as ratified and have it go into effect next year," he said.
Pasha added he was not sure if he would file an appeal to the Rules and Ethics Board regarding the validity of a constitutional amendment that would give all Council executive board members regular voting privileges, excluding the Executive Vice President, who would only vote in case of a tie.
Pasha also sponsored a bill to make Executive Vice President-elect Whitney Garrison Council parliamentarian, which will allow Garrison to give a second, non-binding opinion on procedures.
Garrison was approved unanimously.
Most Council representatives seemed satisfied, for the time being, with Pasha's explanations and policy changes.
"I talked to Executive Vice President Pasha about my concerns," said Lela Graham, Council representative for the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. "He said that my concerns were valid and that he was going to make changes. I will absolutely hold him accountable."
The Council officer speaking anonymously said there was not enough support among the representative body to impeach Pasha.
"There were representatives who supported a motion [for impeachment], but a lot of people thought there were better options," he said.
Council President Daisy Lundy said she was happy with the way Council handled the situation.
"This could have had a very negative tone," she said. "EVP Pasha did a good job and he's agreed to do some things different, which we can all appreciate. This is a learning process."
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