Following an unconventional election in which Sophomore Representative Kasimir Austin and Junior Representative and Managing Editor of the Oracle Isaac Roy ran for the Board of Elected Representatives (BER) chair as a team, the Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress (HUSC) has attempted to rectify the constitutional damages.
During HUSC’s General Assembly meeting on Tuesday, April 22, Austin and Roy announced that they would be running as co-chairs of BER. At first glance, the election followed the guidelines of the HUSC constitution and bylaws. However, current BER chair and senior Abbi Kutz, who was not present for the start of the meeting, noted that both representatives and executive board members began doubting whether or not the election was constitutional after reading the bylaws more closely.
“The recall vote was done because there was a discussion that was had, and kind of hearing what some of the reps were talking about after this last vote, where two people were elected for one position. The conversation was, ‘Does our constitution and bylaws allow this?’ After further reading, we kind of realized [that] it really doesn’t,” Kutz said.
According to HUSC bylaws, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chair moderates elections. PAC chair and senior Alexandra Kretsch explained that the unconstitutionality of the election did not fall under Kutz’s absence, but rather, that Roy did not notify the BER chair that he was running with Austin, let alone running at all.
“Abbi was not present for this election, or at least for the beginning, which again was not a concern because [there was] only supposed to be one candidate. And even when there [were] two, we weren’t super worried, although Isaac never informed Abbi that he was going to run, which is the first step in running for BER chair,” Kretsch said.
Straying from the bylaws aside, future External President and sophomore Anna Beaudry was more concerned with the precedent that these events set for future elections. Although she believes Roy and Austin have the best intentions, she recognizes that it could cause some deeper issues down the line.
“There was a bit of deviation from the bylaws and the constitution, which is always dangerous because when you sort of set a new precedent, that it’s okay to go against any of those laws, those are fundamentals of student congress. That could definitely pose some challenges if people choose to sort of abuse that,” Beaudry said.
The election was moved to a vote, where representatives promptly selected Roy and Austin as BER co-chairs for the 2025-2026 academic year. HUSC bylaws dictate that the only position on the executive board that representatives can vote for is the BER chair. Still, as conversations surrounding the constitution and a possible recall vote arose, Kutz wanted to make sure that the power remained in the hands of the representatives.
“As an [executive] board, we didn’t want to take that power away from the representatives. [They have] already heard and voted, even though it may not have been necessarily the way we expected, and it may have seemed and been a little rushed, we realized that it is up to the reps to decide what they want to do moving forward because this is the one position on the exec board that they can control,” Kutz said.
A recall vote is a process that seeks to recall the elected official via vote, and due to a lack of time, the general assembly ended before a recall vote could take place. It was decided among the representatives and the BER chair that a meeting would be held on Thursday, April 24 to determine the next steps. Austin explained that rather than attempt to solve the problem now, the BER chair position would remain open until next year.
“We ended up on the decision of Issac and I recusing ourselves from the vote, [canceling] out the vote, leaving the BER position open and tabling the elections until next year, because none of us liked the idea of having a third BER election five or so days before the passing of the gavel,” Austin said. “We won’t be permanently changing the bylaws of HUSC. We will be writing a resolution to make an exception to the bylaws for the 2025-2026 academic year, allowing two people to run for the position of what is usually one person.”
Austin noted that many representatives, especially those new to HUSC, found the process confusing. Kretsch reflects on what could have gone differently in the moment, saying that although the idea of co-chairs was not well received, there was little to stop the vote from occurring in the first place.
“None of us in the moment thought it was a good idea. It brings up so many different questions on just [the] logistics of how it’s going to work for this position. But in us trying to look at [the constitution and bylaws], we didn’t see anything, which meant there was nothing we could do to block that vote in the moment,” Kretsch said.
Executive board members have not only been trying to rectify the situation within the confines of HUSC but also throughout the greater community. Kutz explains that HUSC processes are in place for a reason, as BER controls not only student organizations on campus, but also the money they receive.
“I think it’s extremely important that we follow the rules, especially as being HUSC, the student congress, we’re in charge of a lot of student dollars. We get to dictate student orgs and what they have to do in order to retain their funding. As the BER chair and a member of the exec board, I think it is vital that we follow the rules that we put in place, not just for ourselves, but for the rest of the community to follow,” Kutz said.
Roy and Austin will return next year to run for BER co-chairs with due process in mind. Although the election is now months away, Austin emphasized the importance of giving representatives the power to make a choice in who they want to see lead them.
“At the end of the day, no matter who we run as, no matter if we run as co-chairs or as individuals, as much as I would love to serve as BER chair and believe that I can do a good job in that role either as sole BER chair or [as] co-chairs [with] Isaac, it is up to the representatives to decide who they want to represent them,” Austin said.