At the last Student Senate meeting of January, the chair of the Rules and Elections Committee was replaced. Matthew Newman ’05 was approved by the Senate to succeed David Scherzer as the chair of RNE one week after Scherzer asked to be replaced. The leadership change comes with just under two months left before GM Week, as the committee finds itself with five open seats, and the prospects of the E-voting trial discussed during the fall now ruled out for this GM Week.
Scherzer said that he requested to be replaced primarily because of disagreements with Grand Marshal Michael Dillon. He explained that he felt that Dillon was trying to micromanage and that he didn’t feel as if Dillon was giving RNE the independence it normally operated with. Dillon would “try to control meetings” as an ex-oficio member of RNE. Scherzer said, “I have my disagreements with the Senate, but my main reason for leaving is Dillon.”
According to Scherzer, “E-voting is in shambles…and is probably not going to happen.” He said that he believed it might be ready to be tested in time for the next freshman elections, but not in time for the upcoming GM Week. He noted that the e-voting initiative was an area on which he and Dillon tended to disagree on.
The newly appointed chair, Matthew Newman, said that e-voting was not going to be ready for GM Week but might be ready for the next freshman elections. He pointed out, though, that since the new RNE chair is usually appointed soon after GM Week elections, he will probably not be the one overseeing those elections.
Newman also discussed the shortage of people on RNE. Several members of the committee resigned in the past several weeks for a variety of reasons ranging from other time commitments to possible conflicts of interest. Currently, of the eight voting member seats on the Committee, five are unfilled, including the seats appointed by the Panhellenic and Intrafraternity Councils, the Graduate Council, the Executive Board, and the Judicial Board.
Newman has served on RNE before but more recently founded the S. Badia party last year. He said that if the party exists this year, he will sign the rights to it away. He also currently serves as the President of the Independent Council, but does not see a conflict of interest arising since the IC does not endorse GM/PU candidates.
According to Newman, “Switching the RNE chair during the middle of the year is not common at all,” but he said that the elections handbook was pretty far along and that it would hopefully be presented to the Senate soon. He added, “Elections will run and will be fine.”
Dillon said of the former chair, “Professionally, I do respect him, but we had some personal issues.” He expressed high confidence in the newly appointed chair saying, “I think Newman will do a great and wonderful job.”
