Temple Student Government has disappointed us again.
On Monday, TSG held a pre-impeachment hearing for Elections Commissioner Matthew Diamond. The entire Senior Leadership Team filed for his impeachment after Diamond refused to edit the 2017 elections code to include the changes it proposed.
The team includes the current student body president, the two vice presidents, the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and the director of communications.
It is also calling for Diamond’s impeachment because he posted a copy of the 2017 elections code — which is publicly available on TSG’s website — to his personal Facebook account, not an official TSG account. We question if this is a substantial claim for his removal.
When three students resigned from Parliament, TSG’s legislative branch, during winter break, we argued that it should stop infighting, which is a waste of time. But the recent events are worse — they look like an abuse of power.
The Senior Leadership Team not only retaliated against a team member who did not comply with its suggestions, but blocked other proposed changes to the elections code that could have prevented what lead to last year’s conflict-filled 2017 election.
These rejected alterations proposed restricting campaign endorsements and adding more on-campus locations to post campaign materials.
We want to believe TSG can put aside internal disputes and get to work. We want to believe The Ethics Board that Activate TU implemented ensures Parliament’s and the Executive Branch’s accountability.
But this behavior, two weeks before the 2018 election, gives us little faith.
We appreciate the programs TSG implemented to work with the North Philadelphia community and engage nontraditional students, like its peer mentorship program. But at this point, we’ve gotten tired of this administration’s fingerpointing and petty fighting.
To the soon-to-be-announced TSG candidates, The Temple News has a recommendation: don’t model this behavior.
Be the first to comment