Administration removes SGA president
Direction of Student Government Association uncertain with loss of leader
By Danielle Marsh | dmarsh1@flagler.edu
After a failed attempt by students to impeach Student Government President Brandon Collins, Student Services has relieved him of his duties.
In an official letter delivered to Collins by Assistant Dean of Student Services Dirk Hibler, the main reason for his removal was “a lack of leadership.”
Upon receiving notice of his removal, Collins wrote an appeal letter to the Dean of Student Services Dan Stewart. His appeal was denied.
Collins is currently in the middle of an appeals process with President William T. Abare Jr. A decision should be made around Dec. 5 or 6.
“It caught me off guard,” Collins said, adding the removal “was unexpected coming from such a good friend.”
When Collins asked Hibler what “a lack of leadership” meant, he said no answer was given. Stewart and Hibler would not comment on the issue.
In his letter of appeal to Abare, Collins wrote, “I question the ability of the advisor to remove an officer that is not related to grades or any acts that relates to the student not being in good standing with the college.”
There were “some concerns when he assumed the presidential position,” Abare said.
Abare also mentioned that during Collins’ presidency there were some issues that arose between Collins and the administration. Abare would not go into details on either issue, but said this is a “very serious” matter and he doesn’t want to make an “arbitrary” decision.
Abare is unsure if he will appoint a hearing board or deal with the issue himself. He will, however, conduct an evaluation to determine what led to his dismissal and “whether or not it is warranted.”
Earlier in the year, Collins had a run-in with Stewart about the interpretation of the SGA Constitution with regard to changing policies. He said he was told to “drop the issue without any debate.”
Collins says in his letter to Abare, “If I do not have the right as SGA President to question the policies … without being afraid of losing my position as president, the president is no more than a figurehead.”
Junior Devin Vache questions why SGA isn’t working together. “They are all there to support one another and if that doesn’t work, you have what we have now,” Vache said.
Collins points to the lack of support from the administration. “I have felt little or no support from Student Services this year and feel like they have taken sides with other people who they might have wanted as president,” Collins said.
While waiting for Abare’s decision, Collins said, “I am growing further apart from SGA and my peers. They are moving on and I’m stuck in limbo.”
Until a decision is made, Kaitlyn Mairs is the acting SGA President. She declined to comment on her new position or the issue.
This is not the first occasion Collins’ leadership skills were questioned. On Oct. 16 two members of the SGA leadership team, Grant Gillenwater and Richard Harris, tried to set a petition to impeach Collins. Gillenwater and Harris were the other two candidates who ran against Collins for president.
When they presented their petition to the student body, Gillenwater and Harris were forced to end their presentation early due to the uproar from students.
“From the very beginning it’s been this power struggle,” Collins said. “This year has been nothing but politics and it hasn’t been beneficial for the students.”
who r rich and grant?
I second that.
Grant and Rich are tools. They are nothing but tools.
I second D’s opposition to the closed-door strategies the Administration uses. Brandon didn’t have a problem leading, our social structure at Flagler has a problem with hegemony imposed by the Administration vis a vis laws that protect private institutions’ discretion. After 3 years of SGA and graduating early on the Dean’s List, I can say without provocation that SGA internally has no structure because of the innate way the Administration tries to limit the real grasp of the elected Student Government officials. I can’t wait to get rich and give our school money, so our kids and our kids’ kids won’t have to deal with censorship or impeachment of a classmate. And you really have to ask yourself if removing Brandon made a positive impact on the remaining term, or was it just a power struggle from the beginning between he and the Deans?
So if the site was just going to a new host or server, why was there a message up on a blank page saying the site was hacked? It looked like a real hacker message, complete with e-mail addresses and all.
The site was down because we were migrating the site to a new hosting service. Because the transfer took longer than we expected, the comments made before the transfer were lost and we are attempting to have them restored.
Thank You.
First things first, why was the site down for two weeks? Second, now that it’s back, where have all of the comments gone? Especially evident are the missing comments critical of the college and the paper itself – is the Gargoyle now engaging in the same systematic censorship that it decried one year ago? It wouldn’t surprise me, given Flagler College’s history of suppressing student thought and any form of dissent, be it gay students or non-christian students. So the removal of critical comments? Wouldn’t surprise me, although it is extremely disheartening that a newspaper website, which should ideally be a bastion of free speech and independent thought, would eliminate some choice words. You might not agree with what I have to say, but shouldn’t you be dying to defend my right to say it? That’s the expression, at least. Obviously, practice is something different altogether. But at least we know now where the editorial and managerial staff of the Gargoyle stands, and all of the negative comments have been further proven to be fact.
Why does everything that takes place between the students, the SGA and the administration in this school have to be all smoke and mirrors. Its sad that there are no ‘facts’ or ‘straight answers’ around here. Decisions of this magnitude don’t belong behind closed doors.