The AAS constitution specifies that a senator who misses three meetings will be removed from office. Ghazal implemented the disciplinary measure of a 'half absence.'
A senator receives a half absence if he or she arrives fewer than 15 minutes late to a meeting or leaves a meeting before it is finished. If a senator fails to attend a meeting or is more than 15 minutes late, he or she receives a full absence. Thus, a senator is removed after accumulating the equivalent of three absences.
The JC deliberated on the constitutionality of the attendance policy directly following the hearing. They plan to announce their decision by tomorrow.
Former senator Christian Sanchez '05 filed the complaint against Ghazal after Ghazal removed Sanchez from the senate for exceeding the limit of three absences. Ghazal argued the policy was constitutional because as vice president, it is his job to maintain attendance policy. Sanchez argued that senators have not embraced Ghazal's policy. "Most people see three absences as not being there three times," he said.
Sanchez had two full absences and two half absences last semester. He attributed his absence from the fall semester orientation meeting to a misunderstanding. The other full absence resulted from an illness, while the two half-absences were given because he left one meeting early to work on a paper and arrived more than 15 minutes late to another.
Ghazal was not able to confirm Sanchez's reasons for the absences because he had not noted them alongside the attendance record.
"Emergencies are excused," he said. "Emergencies are defined as [situations posing] imminent danger to themselves. ... I've extended it so that if you have another AAS-related meeting or a class scheduled during a special meeting ... [you] are also excused."
Ghazal argued that it is imperative for senators to attend and sit through senate meetings. "If they're not there the whole time, they're not representing their constituency," he said.
When asked why he did not oppose the policy when Ghazal initially proposed it, Sanchez said that Ghazal had the authority to define the policy. "It was really up to his discretion what the tardy policy was going to be," Sanchez said. "It was really vague." However, when the policy was instituted at the beginning of the school year, Sanchez said that he did not think that the policy would be used for the purpose of removing senators. "We [the constitution committee] did not intend for the VP to give out half absences or quarter absences and then tally them up so that he could fulfill the 3 absence rule and thus kick senators out," he said.
"We thought that when we wrote down three absences it would mean three absences, and have nothing to do with being tardy or leaving early," said Sanchez. "We thought the average person would understand what we meant but obviously the VP thought he could create a system where many things can count as absences and thus has been able to unjustly kick student elected senators out."
Ghazal noted that he had announced at the end of the spring semester that an absence from the orientation meeting would count toward the limit. Sanchez answered, "I was excused the year before by the secretary-[the orientation meeting absence] should have been considered an emergency." Sanchez was absent from the meeting because he was working.
"Everybody knows where they stand in terms of the absence policy," Ghazal stated in his closing argument. "[The rules are] not meant to be malicious. It's important that everyone's there on time so that we can get started."
"I think the vice president has usurped a lot of power that's not in the constitution," Sanchez said. "It says nothing about … taking attendance and kicking you out. Instead of worrying about real issues … we're busy kicking people out."