The Student Supreme Court has not met since last fall and does not have all its members to properly function.

Student Body President Cole Rogers said he has not replaced Keith Darby, the associate justice who resigned in December to register for the Student Senate elections.

The Student Government Constitution requires the student body president to appoint justices to two-year terms that do not conflict with any other Student Government position. A two-thirds vote within the senate is needed to confirm the appointments.

“The Student Supreme Court shall be the court of original and final jurisdiction in cases involving constitutional matters regarding student organizations, and shall have original and final jurisdiction in cases involving the student Bill of Rights,” the constitution reads.

The court is thereby authorized to settle disputes regarding bylaws and constitutions of any student organization.

Rogers said the most common references to the court would pertain to senate election issues, infractions of the Student Government constitution and discrepancies with voted resolutions.

“I met with Jarryd (Stalling) at the beginning of the (academic) year and everything was fine,” Rogers said. “We just haven’t really needed them this year.”

Jarryd Stalling is the chief justice of the court. Calls and e-mails sent to Stalling were not returned.

Former Student Body President Sean Anderson appointed Stalling when the court was re-established in April 2007. To avoid confusion when representatives leave office and new officers enter, he set the appointment process to occur at the beginning of the spring term.

He said every student body president would appoint three justices a year because each term is two years. To make sure the court is ready for any situations, Anderson said he met with them at least once a month.

“The responsibility of making sure (the court) is up and running is (Cole Rogers’),” Anderson said. “If it’s not running right, it’s his fault.”

To avoid a conflict of interest, the court reports directly to Dan Nadler, vice president for Student Affairs. He said the senate has the responsibility to make Rogers keep up with his appointments.

“I haven’t been following Student Government lately, but I’m pretty disappointed that myself and others put countless hours and months into (rebuilding the court) and it’s not even there anymore,” Anderson said.

Director of Student Life Ceci Brinker is also the Student Government and University Board adviser. She said it would be inappropriate for her to advise both Student Government and the Student Supreme Court.

Nadler said the court has been trying to find itself in recent years, but there haven’t been any issues for them to resolve.

The constitution says after complaints are filed with the court, the adviser decides whether to pass them along to the chief justice. Any student can file a complaint.

Director of Campus Recreation Ken Baker was the adviser for the court until he became the interim athletic director on Aug. 21. Lynette Drake, director of Student Health Services, was later appointed as Baker’s replacement.

She was the only volunteer and no decision has been made regarding next year’s adviser, Nadler said.

Courts effective elsewhere

Illinois State University does not resolve student activities issues with a Student Supreme Court.

“Judicial authority here is rooted in Community Rights and Responsibilities in the Dean of Students Office,” said Rick Olshak, adviser of Student Government at ISU.

Student Government reviews and approves all students selected for the committees within the department and for the Student Affairs’ Appeal Appeals Board.

“(Community Rights and Responsibilities) has authority over all student discipline, including academic and social misconduct and involving both individuals and student organizations,” Olshak said.

He said about 20 cases involving student organizations have been dealt with so far this year. Eastern’s Student Supreme Court has dealt with none.

The court at Eastern; however, only has an adviser and six justices appointed to it. The court does not hear issues of academic disputes or social misconduct, but has yet to hear a case pertaining to student organizations other than the senate.

“My opinion is that I prefer student review,” Olshak said. “I have always found students to be exceptionally fair, and it has also been my experience at four different institutions that students are actually tougher on students than faculty and staff are.”

He said his opinion comes from his work as associate dean of students and working in the disciplinary office for nine years.

Court reborn in 2007

The court at Eastern was inoperative for six years until an election discrepancy forced then Student Body President Sean Anderson to reform the court.

Senate candidates Tori Frazier and Chris Kromphardt lost their 2006 elections by small margins and contested the elections, but the court was not available to hear the matter.

In April 2007, Anderson claimed the court met weekly to review senate activities to ensure constitutional boundaries were kept.

Before then, the court last met in November 2001 to settle an appointment controversy. Student Executive Vice President Daryl Jones told the court his appointees to the Charleston City Council were unconstitutionally rejected.

He claimed the senate gave him an ultimatum to reappoint the incumbent liaison or no appointees would be approved. He said the state reasons for rejection were unwritten rules and violations of the constitution.

The court voted 3-2 that Jones’ case did not warrant a hearing. It said Jones was using circumstantial and implied evidence to support his accusations.

Anderson said, at a minimum, current court activity should be oriented around the activities of the student executive board.

The executive board should not be controlled by groups of friends and the court is a way to prevent such control, Anderson said.

“The need for it is this, the only accountability is The Daily Eastern News’ writing,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of people who may feel that executive board members aren’t doing their job, but there’s nowhere to go with the concern.”

“The court is a way to keep them accountable, because six people (the student government executive board) are sitting there getting their educations paid for,” Anderson said.

Rick Kambic can be reached at 581-7942 or at rwkambic@eiu.edu.

Keith Darby is sworn in as a Student Senate member during the Jan. 25 Student Government meeting. Darby, a former associate justice on the Student Supreme Court, resigned from the court in December 2007 to run for the senate position. This left the court

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