The University of Michigan Central Student Government convened Tuesday afternoon over Zoom, where position appointments were made and recalls of members were debated before the meeting adjourned early.
The meeting began with the appointment of Business freshman Sharon Thomas as secretary, followed by the appointment of LSA freshman Shawn Kelly as clerk. These appointments were not subject to a vote and were adopted automatically.
The meeting then moved on to the recall of certain members. The first recall up for debate was against Representative Felipe Moretti, a Rackham student.
CSG Speaker Mario Thaqi, an LSA junior, said that Moretti and two other representatives, Lillian Conybeare and Nicolas Juarez, were up for recall due to their number of absences.
“Representative Moretti is up for recall because he has four absences or more, and, from the operating procedure, individuals are automatically up for recall if they have four or more absences,” Thaqi said.
Vice Speaker Eric Veal Jr., an LSA sophomore, further explained that Moretti received a total of four absences because he did not attend CSG’s orientation, which counted for two absences. In addition, Moretti also missed the closing rolls at the April 9 and April 16 meetings.
Representative Melisa Hussain, a Rackham student, objected to Moretti’s recall and initiated a debate before the vote. During this debate, Hussain said she believed being a Rackham student is more difficult to balance with CSG than being an undergraduate student, and enforcing Moretti’s recall would impact all Rackham CSG members.
“I wanted to make sure that the whole of CSG understands the kind of responsibility Rackham representatives have,” Hussain said. “We are not 18 or 19, we are well into our adult years. We are graduate students, and on top of being graduate students, we are also GSIs. If we recall Felipe, you’re not only recalling Felipe, but you’re also going to be recalling me and the rest of the Rackham reps, and that will be a huge injustice to having graduate student voices on CSG.”
Representative Danah Owaida, a Taubman graduate student, explained that she felt the recall was a deliberate move rather than purely procedural.
“It is pretty obvious to me in this meeting and in prior meetings as well that there is this underlying sense of taking jabs at people who were elected for certain reasons over others,” Owaida said. “This isn’t an attack towards anyone, this is just me questioning this idea of it being purely procedural.”
In response, Thaqi said he felt that the recall was solely procedural and based on the rules he is required to follow as Speaker.
“Based on the rules which we are bounded by, I’m required to call recalls of any member if they receive more than four absences,” Thaqi said. “You all could either vote to recall him or not, this is what this debate and the vote is for, but he was simply called not by any kind of picking or choosing but just because he received four absences.”
After the debate, votes were cast online. 18 members voted to affirm Moretti’s recall, and 16 votes were cast against the decision. With only a simple majority necessary, Moretti was officially recalled.
The next item on the agenda was the recall of Representative Conybeare. Before a vote could occur, Representative Hussain motioned to adjourn the meeting. This motion was seconded and went to a vote. With 14 members in favor and 18 against, the motion to adjourn was not passed.
The vote to recall Conybeare then took place, but only 21 members voted, meaning quorum, or the minimum number of voters required to conduct business, was not met. In an attempt to reestablish quorum, Thaqi called the meeting to ease for 10 minutes and said if the requirement was not met after the break, the meeting would be forced to adjourn. The representatives who had not voted subsequently left the Zoom call, leaving only 21 representatives present. As this did not meet quorum, the meeting was forced to adjourn early.
Daily Staff Reporter Alyssa Tisch can be reached at tischaa@umich.edu.