The 34th student senate met Monday to confirm eight of the nine student officers. However, before confirmations began one senator revealed that prior notification to candidates was not done, which went against the rules and procedures.
The eight officers confirmed were: Marcus Barrington, associate justice for supreme court; Joseph Wilson, associate justice for supreme court; Phillip Hamilton, associate justice for traffic court; Nicole Boone, associate justice for traffic court; Patrice Jones, associate justice for traffic court; Crystal Smith, associate chief justice of traffic court; Amanda Trice, secretary of economic development; and George Olokun, union board adviser.
Senator Yvette Wilmoth spoke to the senate about the notification of candidates after speaking to a candidate about the Elections and Appointments interviews conducted on Sunday.
“On Sunday I spoke to an interviewee to make sure that they would be at the interview and they told me that they would be (in attendance) but had received a notification through a third party source,” Wilmoth said.
Wilmoth said she spoke with members of the committee on Sunday, who advised her that the candidate she had spoken to was the only candidate who had not received word of the interview.
However, Wilmoth’s concern about the notification of candidates spilled over at the meeting after finding out that prior to Monday’s confirmations, candidates up for confirmation had not been notified of their results from the E&A interviews.
“I asked several candidates if they had been notified about their results, and they said they were not,” Wilmoth said.
According to the rules and procedures, the E&A Committee is required to give each candidate his or her results from the E&A interview.
George Olokun, who received a favorable vote at the interview, also said he had not received notification of his performance prior to confirmation but had assumed that he had done well by word of mouth.
“I heard through the grape vine that I had done well,” said the senior political science student from Atlanta.
Like Olokun, Amanda Trice, who was confirmed as Secretary of Economic Development, said she was notified of her favorable vote by other sources as well.
Trice said she believed candidates should have known after leaving the E&A interviews if they did well.
In response to Wilmoth’s concern of the E&A notifying candidates, members of the committee and senate reviewed the situation and concluded the matter by voting to waive the rule and proceed with the confirmations.
Contact Christina Hordge at famuannews@hotmail.com