In the past seven weeks, the student body has been perplexed and angered by the College’s response to Johnny Smith’s death. Delta Tau Delta’s charter is no longer recognized by the school, the brotherhood of Delts has been scattered across campus and forbidden to go over to the 21 and older students’ campus-owned houses, and now it seems that the administration is violating the Delts’ right to lead in student-funded organizations.
The recent resignations of Travis Janeway as President of the Sphinx Club and Colin Ridenour as President of the Cooking Club provoked rumors that they, along with every other Delt who held a leadership position on campus, had been coerced into resignation by the senior administration. Senior Class Representative for Student Senate Sean Clerget ’09 conducted an investigation after hearing these rumors.
“Every indication was that this was reached after talks with the administration, according to members of both clubs,” Clerget said.
In light of his findings, Clerget proposed a resolution to the Student Senate Tuesday night, asking that the College “explain their actions and cease and desist from interfering with the right of students of Wabash College to select the leaders of their student organizations.” Invoking the Student Organization Leadership Act (SOLA), passed by the Senate in spring 2007, Clerget claimed that the rights of these Delts had been violated and that the administration must answer to the students for their actions.
SOLA, which believes that students should maintain organization leadership, was adopted “in spirit of the Gentleman’s Rule, which places self-governance at the core of college life.” In Section Four, SOLA states that “The student members of an organization shall determine the process by which their officers are selected. The process must empower students alone to select the officers, and only students may be officers.” Thus, according to SOLA, the administration has no power to affect the selection (and consequentially the removal) of student organization leadership. Several senators also argued that the College should have no power over clubs that are funded by students. Clerget, who proposed SOLA in 2007, is convinced that student rights have been violated.
“The point of this [resolution], it demonstrates the voice of the student body, that we don’t approve of these actions,” Clerget said.
The Senate unanimously voted to pass the resolution, which will be delivered to the President of the College and his senior staff.
Student Body President Juan Carlos Venis ’09 declared that the Senior Council would attempt to pass a similar resolution Thursday night.
“If we see fit, the Senior Council will pass a resolution in the same spirit, and perhaps the same language,” Venis said. “We will also pass out that resolution to students and submit it to the administration.”
Venis feels that the Senate’s decision was sound.
“When we see our leadership limited, it raises questions, and students are aware that there is information not being shared,” Venis said. “The Senate decided that the student body feels the administration shouldn’t meddle in our clubs, especially since they are paid for and voted on by students.”
Venis said he was proud of the efforts of the student body in responding to these issues and was pleased to have students come to a collective opinion, something to advocate for. Venis knows the Senate will do their best as representatives of the student body to share those opinions with the administration.
As with earlier talks, it is possible that administrators will prove evasive on this topic, but Venis remains confident. “If they take our role seriously as gentlemen, and take the gentleman’s rule seriously, then they will take our resolution seriously,” Venis said.
Clerget echoed Venis’ statements by saying that “whether or not they change their tactics, is an open question.”
Student Body Vice President John Moton ’09 was also pleased with the Senate’s resolution, and he had declared earlier in the Senate session that he wanted the Senate to become more active in keeping the gentleman’s rule alive. He was hopeful that the Senior Council would pass a similar resolution.
“At this point,” Moton said, “the Senate hopes that the Senior Council will either pass the same resolution as the Senate or a similar piece on Thursday. A joint resolution is very possible dependent upon their decision on Thursday.”
One question still open for discussion is whether the College has the power to carry out this action against students. “The College can do as it wishes,” Moton said. “According to Student Senate Policy, and particularly the Clerget Act (Student Organization Leadership Act), students and only students can determine their leaders. The Senate hopes the College will respect our policies now and in the future with regard to student leadership.”
The administration has not released any information to the student body concerning the resignations of the Delts in question. Dean Raters and President White were unavailable for comment. Dean Warner has stated that the administration plans to meet with student government soon.
Rumors have circulated that many more Delts have been coerced into resignation, but according to Clerget, only two have been investigated and all others are just “speculation.”
No formal investigation has been conducted by a student organization to date, and the two Delts in question did not wish to comment on the matter.