Undergraduate Student Government President Rob Kampia may not have a choice in how he communicates with the USG Senate after tonight’s meeting.
An ad hoc committee will recommend the senate pass an executive order that would require Kampia to attend the remaining USG Senate meetings.
“Every week there is a spot on the agenda for a president’s report,” said Nittany/Pollock senator Lisa Fields. “It is silly that we have to do this. But since he hasn’t been there, this is just our way of telling him what he has to do.”
The ad hoc committee was formed to determine if there was sufficient evidence to impeach Kampia. There were questions on Kampia’s use of the USG briefcase and the whereabouts of an answering machine.
Although there was not enough evidence for the impeachment of Kampia, the committee decided the situation could have been minimized if communications were better between Kampia and the USG Senate, said Senate President Mike Gillespie.
“We need to increase communications,” Gillespie said. “That would have facilitated all of this. The trial would have still happened, but it could have saved time.”
If the USG Senate passes the executive order, it will be broken down into three parts.
The first part states there was negligence in spending for the answering machine and briefcase; the second part requires Kampia to attend the remainder of the meetings during the president’s report. If Kampia cannot attend a meeting, the third part states he must notify the USG Senate at least 24 hours in advance and hand in a written report to be read during the president’s report.
Kampia said he thinks the executive order is the wrong way to solve the problem.
“What they’re trying to do is legislate behavior,” Kampia said. “If they want to anger me, they can pass this executive order and try to force me to do something.”
East Halls senator Wendy Hurst said Kampia’s statement is correct to an extent.
“As far as his attendance at senate meetings, we are legislating behavior,” Hurst said. “We cannot, however, mandate his attitude. That is his own problem.”
Kampia had previously announced he was minimizing his contact with the USG Senate, but reconsidered the action.
“I decided that in the heat of the moment,” he said. “Just because two or three senators have problems that does not mean that I should avoid the other 20.”
Kampia said relations between he and the USG Senate would be more likely to improve if the senators took time to work with him rather than ordering him to communicate.
The order originally required Kampia to stay for the entire USG Senate meeting, but the committee decided to amend the order and only require Kampia to stay for the president’s report.
“It is not fair to Rob to keep him there the entire meeting,” Gillespie said. “Figuratively, a senate meeting could last until 11 (p.m.). Rob’s business with USG Senate is done after his president’s report. This is our effort to be reasonable with him.”
Fields, who was chairwoman of the ad hoc committee, said she agreed with allowing Kampia to leave following his report.
“Everything that involves him happens during his president’s report,” Fields said. “It would be unreasonable to expect him to stay any longer.”
Kampia said he believes, if passed, the order would not change anything.
“I attended meetings when I could,” Kampia said. “The only thing that will change is now I will tell them before rather than after why I wasn’t there.”