Phillip Scherer | Sports Editor
Posted March 18, 2014; 2:15 p.m.
Published Legacy March 18, 2014

Freshman Justin Broadbooks resigned from the Lindenwood Student Government Association senate prior to the group’s Feb. 26 meeting.

Broadbooks cited issues with the group’s leadership as the main reason for his resignation.“I didn’t really get along with a lot of people in the office. I felt that a lot of conflict of interest issues were not being dealt with correctly and that our faculty advisers were not doing the best job,” Broadbooks said.

Broadbooks said he had been thinking about leaving LSGA since the beginning of the spring semester. “The atmosphere in the group definitely changed when Jordan Pfeiffer was removed from his position as president during last semester, and it got too much for me when the three new senators were brought in at the start of this semester. That really was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.

Isaac White, Morgan Albertson and Dylan Paul, the three new senators, were brought in when three of the previous senators graduated or left due to constitutional conflicts. Broadbooks said replacing half of the senate midway through the year was a process that should have been avoided.

“I felt like it was a terrible idea to have that many senators that you knew would be leaving before the end of the year. The whole thing just seemed like a waste of time,” Broadbooks said.

According to the LSGA’s constitution in place at the time, “any officer may choose to resign at any time by submitting a letter of resignation to the director of the Student Life and Leadership Office.” The senate would then appoint someone to replace them.

An amendment was made at the March 12 meeting that offers an alternative to that in the case of resignation.
The new amendment states, “If the vacancy occurs on or after the fourth week of the second semester, it is up to the discretion of the Senate whether or not to fill senator position.”

Albertson said that due to the new amendment, Broadbooks would not be replaced before the end of the semester, and the senate will remain at seven members until the fall. “Because of his absence we have had to move a number of bills that he has been working on back, and they will have to be worked on by someone else,” Albertson said. “It is not detrimental, but it is inconvenient. Potentially less inconvenient than replacing him, however.”

Broadbooks made many of the senators, including Albertson, aware of his decision the week before his resignation took effect. The faculty advisers and executive board were not told of his decision ahead of time. Many members of the executive board were not aware until he failed to attend the meeting on Feb. 26.