USG deceives student body

Members of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) executive board deliberately altered the public record, an investigation by The Chicago Flame revealed late last week.

The minutes were intentionally falsified to mislead the student body with respect to a vote that was cast to decide a key position within the organization.

Online correspondence obtained by the Flame between USG President Rasha Atallah and Speaker of the Assembly Tarek Cattan outlined the decision to compromise the minutes.

Cattan advised Atallah, "pick your words wisely…I'm the politician and I'm pretty right on these things."

Atallah justified the alteration explaining, "Honestly, if anyone has a problem with the minutes they get the chance to approve them with changes at the beginning so they can all just shove it."

The meeting in question occurred on Oct. 8. As the meeting ran past 6 p.m., the members were forced to exit the room due to a prior booking. USG advisor J. Malcolm Smith excused himself, while several members remained to conclude the agenda.

Continuing informally, the members moved to elect a new academic affairs chairperson. Assembly member Saada Zegar nominated Damian Wolak, who was pleased to accept. Sana Rahmani then nominated Sarah Green, who also accepted. Two other members were nominated but declined.

The official minutes from the meeting reflect that Wolak won the chair by a vote of 10-9, with none abstaining.

The minutes do not, however, accurately reflect an initial vote that was held, according to all assembly members interviewed.

All reports confirmed that Green had won in the initial vote 9-7, with three members abstaining.

Discussing the initial vote, Atallah explained in the correspondence obtained, "If we say we voted it first then Sarah won. In the official minutes I'll say that the assembly was polled…discussion carried on…and when it was announced for all to make their final votes, the final vote was Damian 10, Sarah 9."

Cattan responded to Atallah saying, "Say that Damian won but that [assembly member] Farooq [Abbasi] called for a revote and I'll tell Farooq that he did, haha [sic]."

Upon discussing the October 8 meeting, Abbasi said, "I want to say that it was tabled, but you know in all honesty it was kind of a long time ago."

While USG assembly members have the right to abstain from voting, several members explained to The Flame that the three abstainers in the initial vote, which had Green leading, were coerced to vote for one of the nominees. This resulted in the recorded vote of 10-9 with Wolak winning.

Capitalizing on the absence of advisor Smith, a motion was passed to table the vote, effectively postponing it until the next meeting. An executive board member explained that such actions are not allowed, citing parliamentary procedure.

Atallah and Cattan discussed the motion to table the vote in their conversation. Cattan admitted to Atallah that the matter was never officially closed because, "nobody called for an actual final vote, we all just got sick of it called to adjourn the meeting but nobody remembers."

In considering problems that could arise from advisor Smith discovering the impropriety, Cattan wrote, "If Dean Smith bitches…he can go to hell." He continued, "I'll undermine him and declare Damian won in that case.

Cattan added, "I'm going to talk with him [Smith] outside before the meeting, and I encourage you [Atallah] to come with, along with Pri [treasurer, Priyanka Vaidya] who I think doesn't want Sarah in becuz [sic] she was so pushy about getting rid of 'abstainers' when she could've just let Sarah win."

The nature of the coercion and the informality with which the election had been conducted led several members to voice concern over the legitimacy of the vote.

Abbasi stated that several people complained to the executive board that the vote was "not done so fairly." The complaints led to the postponement of the election to the following week's meeting.

The election's suspension allowed Cattan and Atallah to alter the minutes to their current state. The record states, "After a long discussion and the assembly voted 10-9-0 in favor of Damian, but they motioned and agreed by majority to table it and revote secret ballot style at the next meeting."

While the repercussions of Atallah and Cattan's manipulation of public record are unclear, according to the constitution, the president and members of the legislative assembly are subject to impeachment for malfeasance.