Above photo: After serving as a senator in Student Government for a year and a half, Mariah McQueen resigned Feb. 23. She said following up with her disqualification from the general election was not a battle she wanted to fight anymore. Emily Wunderlich | The Crow’s Nest
By Emily Wunderlich
Mariah McQueen resigned from the senate Friday after a lengthy battle with the Student Government election rules commission and supreme court following her disqualification from the general election.
“Recent events have challenged me to rethink the ethics and environment of this group,” McQueen’s email to SG said. “I have decided that my time and energy is more worthy and appreciated elsewhere.”
After her case was denied by the SG supreme court Feb. 19, McQueen turned to regional vice chancellor of student affairs Patricia Helton, who requested that the commission reconsider McQueen’s eligibility for candidacy.
McQueen was told by the commission that her disqualification still stands, even though the commission failed to provide her with the minutes from the meeting.
“I feel like this has been going in a circle,” McQueen said. “I’ve gone to the dean of students, I’ve gone to Dwayne Isaacs (director of student life and engagement) twice, I’ve gone to Patti Helton, I’ve gone to Dr. Tadlock. I’ve basically been pointed in a circle.”
McQueen and her running mate, Samantha Fiore, were disqualified from running for student body president and vice president Feb. 12 after the election rules commission unanimously decided that they “submitted signatures obtained in violation of the packet rules.”
The duo needed to obtain 100 signatures each on their campaign packets in order to be eligible for candidacy. McQueen collected signatures on Fiore’s behalf, and Jonah Goodman, a former SG senator, helped collect signatures on behalf of both candidates.
The disqualification left presidential candidate Kaeden Kelso and running mate Ysatis Jordan to run unopposed.
After the disqualification, McQueen brought her case to SG’s supreme court, stating that the rule regarding signatures was not binding and that the commission violated its own rules in how it conducted the Feb. 12 meeting.
In a general business meeting Feb. 19, the supreme court decided it would not take McQueen’s case after an hour and a half of deliberation.
Shannon Scanlon, SG supervisor of elections, waived her right to having SG’s attorney general serve as her legal counsel in the meeting. Instead, she was represented by student body president David Thompson.
“My job was supposed to be to represent the supervisor of elections, and I understand why she may not have wanted me to represent her,” SG attorney general Marion Nuraj said. “However, that’s why we have deputy attorney generals. In this case, a special counsel could’ve been appointed to represent her.”
Although he believes that Thompson’s move was unethical, Nuraj decided he would not pursue the issue further because “there is no statute that prevents (Thompson) from representing a member in court.”
When McQueen was elected to senate in October 2016, her goal was to eventually run for student body president. As a junior, she is disappointed that this was her “last chance” to achieve that goal.
“If you had asked me how long I wanted to stay in Student Government three weeks ago, I would’ve said, ‘I want to stay until I graduate,’” McQueen said. “But the last couple weeks, a lot of the true colors of Student Government have been revealed.
“As an outsider or even someone who wasn’t directly working with the top leadership in Student Government, I didn’t necessarily see the toxicity.”
McQueen said she pushed for serving students as a senator. During her term, she attended conferences in Washington D.C. and Jacksonville seeking strategies to improve elections on a campus with low voter turnout.
Two months into her term as senator, McQueen became policy chair and assumed the duties of conducting committee meetings, updating the senate at general assembly meetings and taking an unbiased stance on policy proposals.
“No matter how I felt about a bill — while it wasn’t stated in the rules — I felt obligated to have (no) bias because that’s really a role the chair should play, especially when it comes to policy,” she said.
Now, McQueen said she plans to focus her energy on her academics and looks forward to “gaining a different experience professionally.”
“I’ve spent a year and a half in Student Government, and while I wish I emotionally could’ve stayed longer, I think it’s time that I move on and earn more skills in a different environment,” she said.
Aside from advocating against consolidation, McQueen wants to establish a lobbyist club to help keep students informed and involved.
“I noticed as a senator, when I talked to students, not a lot of them really (know) what happens in Student Government,” she said. “If I’m able to pass on the knowledge of process of what goes on in Student Government, what goes on in our public government, that would really help students become more involved on this campus.”
McQueen hopes her resignation will serve as a learning experience for leaders in Student Government.
“This is not a battle I want to fight anymore,” she said. “I hope that Student Government members become more aware of their procedural errors and how to learn from making mistakes, and also to respect who you work with more.”
