By Daniel Johnson-Kim, Editor in Chief
The Students’ Association Congress voted to close its weekly meeting to students and student media Wednesday based on a concern that private conversations were being recorded.
Sophomore Sen. Tony Godfrey, sophomore political science and English major from Burleson, motioned to close the meeting after he said Congress members were worried that their privacy was being invaded by a recorder Optimist reporter Kelline Linton, senior journalism major from Spring, uses to back up her notes.
“The thing that came up is the degree to which the recording was happening,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey said during a recess, while members verified figures of a more than $2,000 request for funds to help Milonga Latin Dance pay for the costs to attend the Texas Salsa Congress in Houston, word spread the recorder was powerful enough to pick up private conversations more than 30 feet from where Linton was sitting in Hart Auditorium.
“We were nervous about it because we didn’t know,” Godfrey said.
Congress passed the motion to close the meeting, 20-10-3, and all non-members were required to leave the meeting. Before closing the meeting, Congress passed a motion to grant the Student Training and Research group $3,925 to help pay for the trip to the R.I.S.E. IX Global Student Investment Forum in Dayton, Ohio. After the meeting was closed, Congress passed the motion to grant Milonga $2,055 for its conference, said Parliamentarian Caleb Archer, senior political science major from South Lake.
Linton and Darrien Grays, senior information technology major from Cedar Hill and president of Milonga, were asked to leave before the private session began.
Grays said he was upset he did not get to see the final outcome of his money request and was confused as to why Congress closed the meeting. He thought it may be because Milonga was a dance team and some members did not want him to be in the room because they opposed SA funds supporting dancing at ACU.
“It bothers me a little bit that they would do that; I was kind of concerned,” Grays said. “I wasn’t even aware that they could do that because I was under the impression that all the meetings were open and that any student could come in.”
Archer said the closed session is permitted under Robert’s Rules of Order, which Congress uses in its meetings in addition to the SA Rules of Order. When a Congress member motions to close the meeting, members do not debate on the motion, and Congress immediately votes, Archer said.
“Unless you’re an appointed [or elected] member of the Student’s Association, you have to leave,” said President Daniel Paul Watkins, senior political science major from Fredericksburg, Va.
Prior to Wednesday’s meeting, Congress has only closed its meeting to the public once this semester, and Archer said no meetings were closed last semester.
Upon closer examination of the recording, Linton said no private conversations were recorded, and she simply was recording the meeting, so the public meeting could be available to students who could not attend the meeting. The Optimist planned on posting the recording on its Web site, www.acuoptimist.com.
Linton said she was surprised she had to leave the meeting and was not informed why Congress members felt the need to close the meeting to the public.
“If anyone asked me to listen to the recording, I would have readily complied,” Linton said.
Linton said she allowed two curious Congress members to use her headphones to listen to what the recorder was picking up, and that she told Watkins at the beginning of the meeting that she was recording the meeting.
Watkins made an announcement at the beginning of the meeting, alerting Congress members that their words were being recorded and to choose their words wisely.
“Just remember that I don’t see a reason why we would close this meeting, but you guys have that right to do that,” Watkins announced after saying a prayer at the start of the meeting. “It’s a high-powered mic, and Kelline told me it is going to be broadcast on the Optimist Web site.”
Godfrey said Congress was open to its meeting being recorded and encourages all students to attend, but the chance that students’ privacy had been invaded was a concern Wednesday, justifying the choice to close the meeting.
“We want to be transparent and public, but even with that in mind, we are still students, so notions of privacy are important,” Godfrey said. “When that concern was there, I felt like, and others felt like, it would be better to close the meeting so that it wasn’t a concern tonight.”
Click on the headphones on the right side of this story’s page to hear a portion of the SA Congress meeting.
