The Council of Commonwealth Student Governments has officially voted to impeach their President, Nick Borsuk, which leaves Amanda Davin (the old vice president) in charge for the rest of the term. They felt that Borsuk had created a culture of disrespect and had lost the confidence of the executive board and the council. The council was unsure of his ability to continue and serve out his term as President of CCSG.

There are, however, 2 sides to each story. Josh Crawford, the student affairs director for CCSG, feels that Borsuk was the only person managing to bring members of staff together. He also said that “removing [Borsuk] will cause staff to crumble”. There were also other endorsements for Borsuk to continue to serve out his term, mentioning that he does a great job and should be allowed to maintain his role.

Sadly, other testaments from council members may have sealed Borsuk’s fate. Certain members felt that he used manipulative techniques to pass legislation. Others claimed that he abandoned the platform he ran on. Borsuk promised to bring back the diversity summit to CCSG, which he did. However, he did not attend the summit and instead opted to take personal time instead of supporting members of staff.

Nick Borsuk, upon leaving, stated that it was indeed a great honor and respects the decision made to impeach him from his presidency. He also said that he understood that members of the council felt it was for the benefit of the Commonwealth campuses.

Other CCSG news:

Diversity Summit: I got to speak with Martha Soos, one of the organizers of the Diversity Summit. It was the first summit held in three years and it was a success. The goal is to spread diversity to every commonwealth campus. They had dancers from Sigma Lambda Gamma, speakers (most notable being Dr. Terrell Jones), and poetry from Spoken Word. Photography showcasing diversity was also shown during the Diversity Summit.

Office of Judicial Affairs Legislation: Legislation involving the Judicial Affairs Appeals Process was passed. As it stands currently, students only have 5 days to request an appeal, if suspension or expulsion are the decision of the Appellate Board. Now that the legislation has passed, though, a convicted student may now appeal the decision if the student’s rights are deprived, new evidence emerges, or if the University is not allowed to sanction this offense. Students can now receive one extension to the 5 day period as well, which lasts for one month to allow for emergence of new evidence.

ELion Revision Resolution: CCSG, along with UPUA, the Registrar’s office, Office of Undergraduate Education, Division of Undergraduate Studies, and Information Technology Services resolve to make eLion more interactive and easier to use. Hooray!

Penn State PRIDE: PRIDE showed up at the CCSG meeting and spoke about how they wish to spread the message to a broad audience (all of the commonwealth campuses).

Candidacy Declarations: Currently Mohamed Raouda is running for CCSG President with running-mate Peter Khoury. Paul Ferrera is running for the position of campus chair.