Jonah Hinebaugh | The Crow’s Nest
By James Bennett III
After being found guilty of drinking alcohol in a dorm, Student Government senator Karla Correa drafted a bill that would have lowered the requirements for students to serve in SG.
That bill, which aimed to “ensure the rights of nonviolent USFSP students to be able to fully participate in Student Government affairs and to run for and retain office,” failed in a policy committee meeting on Nov. 8.
After the Nov. 8 meeting, Correa told a reporter in The Crow’s Nest office that she wrote the bill because she had a conduct case against her for drinking in a dorm. She did not say whether the allegations against her were true.
But after the publication of this story, she texted another Crow’s Nest reporter to insist she wasn’t drinking in the dorm but was “found guilty of it anyway,” which is why she says she drafted the bill.
Correa says she appealed the verdict and that the investigation is still pending.
“I’m in Student Government. I don’t want to leave,” she said on Nov. 8. “It was basically to protect myself.”
The bill, which was titled “Restoration and Protection of Rights,” sought to modify SG statutes. The proposed changes would have allowed students to participate in SG despite being under probation or failing to meet the university’s standards of “good academic standing.”
Additionally, the bill proposed that SG would use discretion when dealing with members who committed nonviolent violations of the university’s code of conduct.
Under the proposed bill, SG members who aren’t in good academic standing, are under probation or have violated the university’s code of conduct wouldn’t be disqualified from running for office, either.
Senators Michael Johnson and Jasmine Ayo-Ajayi co-sponsored the bill.
“I don’t think that if somebody has a conduct case against them that they should just not be in Student Government,” Correa said during the Nov. 8 meeting.
“We have standards, and academic probation implies a certain grade point average, which we have set in stone, not only in our statutes, but in our constitution,” Senate President Katherine Fishman said. “I just don’t think we have the power or should have the power to change this.”
SG President Jadzia Duarte pointed out that the SG senate had already voted in favor of the “One USF Student Government Constitution,” which says “members of Student Government must be students in good academic standing and maintain a minimum cumulative institutional 2.5 GPA for undergraduate students and a 3.0 GPA for graduate students and may not be under disciplinary probation suspension or expulsion as defined by the university code of conduct.”
Senator Fishman voted against the bill, and senators Johnson and Correa voted in favor of the bill. Senators Ayo-Ajayi and Chase Cooley abstained from voting.
A case of conduct
During the Nov. 8 meeting, Correa said she thought the conduct system is “not good” and offered a personal anecdote to support her argument.
She claimed she had been unlawfully arrested by the university police department the previous night. Once the officers “decided that they were doing the wrong thing,” they decided to have the incident resolved through the student conduct office.
Jenna Sierra, a student who isn’t in Student Government, vouched for Correa and added that the university police officers did not read Correa her Miranda rights. She said there were six witnesses who “saw the same thing.”
After the meeting, Sierra explained to The Crow’s Nest that she was with Correa around 11:30 p.m. when the senator asked a young African American male who was being questioned by university police on campus if he was alright.
Sierra said the police officers gave the African American male a trespass warning, then turned their attention to Correa, who had been pressing them for more information. Sierra said she watched as Correa was handcuffed and was told she was being arrested for obstruction of justice.
“They were holding my arms and stuff. And I kept saying ‘Oh, that hurts’ and the officer was like ‘No it doesn’t,’” Correa said.
“I just don’t think that I should not be able to be in Student Government because I was trying to make sure that a person of color was okay,” Correa said. “I think people of color already don’t feel the safest on this campus, and I think that if I’m kicked out of Student Government for this, that’s a stain on Student Government.”
While Duarte said SG “has the power to change this,” she said she didn’t believe it should be changed in terms of the “Student Government side.”
“It needs to be changed on the conduct side, and conduct is the one that needs to be finding these innocent students not guilty,” she said.
After the bill failed, members of Student Government crowded around the office to discuss how they could take a stand against injustice and what they deemed an unjust conduct committee.
Student Government Chief Legal Officer Trevor Martindale argued that the bill would have failed in general assembly. Instead, he suggested SG write a resolution that outlines its intent to fight the university’s allegedly “disproportionate” punishment toward people of color.
“If we had a resolution that was supported and had multiple testimonies, the senate would pass the resolution. It would show full support from the senate, and it wouldn’t be something that would be voted down from the senate,” Martindale said. “But the point is that it would be a much more united front if we all voted yes.”
Later, in The Crow’s Nest office, Correa said she doesn’t think the administration “cares what we say.”
“I don’t think that (administration) would do anything, so I feel like it’d be better if we just took matters into our own hands as a Student Government and we had our own rules,” she said.
Correa later added that Senator Fishman questioned the validity of her incident with the university police department.
“I believed the story wasn’t related to the bill being discussed and was being used as an emotional appeal to gain votes and support,” Fishman said in an email.
She added that Correa had previously approached her about being caught drinking in a dorm.
“I saw an improper motive behind the bill and I just did not feel right about the bill,” Fishman said.
This story was corrected on Nov. 12, 2019, to include Correa’s denial of drinking in the dorm.
