Wednesday, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College Senate voted to amend the UGBC constitution with a clause precluding Senate members from sitting on the editorial board of or working as staff writers for a campus newspaper. Earlier in the evening, the Senate attempted censure to Rafael Leonardo, CSOM '11, for allegedly leaking information to The Observer.
Sean Scanlon, A&S '08 and member of the Senate, made the motion to censure Leonardo. "My actions have nothing to do with what was printed in The Observer," Scanlon said. "What I don't want to have is our fellow members of the Senate being betrayed week after week." Scanlon was not only upset with the fact that a member of the Senate had provided The Observer with the roll call of the vote on the Women's Leadership Council during an Oct. 24 Senate meeting, but also with an off-color comment made by Garrett Cockren, Senate member and CSOM '09, outside of the presence of a reporter.
The Women's Leadership Council failed to garner enough votes in the Senate to be chartered as an autonomous body funded by UGBC, similar to the AHANA Leadership Council or the GLBTQ Leadership Council. The Observer lambasted the six members of the Senate who abstained from a vote, saying that they were more concerned with reelection than the issues at hand, also calling them cowards. In fact, four members of the Senate were members of the Class of 2011 and chose to abstain because they did not feel that they had enough knowledge to make an informed decision.
The Observer published a piece accusing the Senate of being a clandestine organization, citing Cockren's remarks made after a meeting, only in the presence of other members of the Senate - printing that Cockren was going to "'hunt' down whoever was 'leaking' information" at Senate meetings. Cockren said he intentionally made his remarks to see if there was a leak. He also stated that he was misquoted.
"I believe [the leaking] infringes on the integrity of the Senate," Scanlon said.
"Sean's proof that I did it was that [no one else] was the leaker," said Leonardo, the Associate Catholic Issues editor for The Observer. "By deciding to censure me, you are helping Sean Scanlon in a political maneuver."
Other members of the Senate did not share Scanlon's frustration with Leonardo, who categorically denied any involvement in leaking information, and shifted the discussion to the need for trust in the Senate.
"Members of the Senate need to trust that they can make an off-color comment to another member without it getting leaked," said Jonathan Karl, A&S '09, stressing the fact that no member of any campus press organization was present at the time of the votes or comment.
"It hurts the validity of their paper when they falsely publish opinions," said Harvey Simmons, A&S '11. He stressed that The Observer needed to make sure that they were publishing opinions as they were, not as they thought they were.
"I joined this group to help people we care about - our peers," said Frank Monteforte, CSOM '08, eager to focus the Senate's time on more valuable endeavors. Other members of the Senate echoed his remarks.
An amendment was passed last night, proposed by Karl, to prohibit any member of the Senate from serving as a member of an editorial board or staff writer on a campus publication.
Most Senate members supported this decision and believed it to be a benefit to the future of the Senate. The Heights has historically employed rules prohibiting editorial board members to serve in any capacity in the UGBC or other select organizations due to conflict of interest. Writers are not permitted to cover groups with which they are associated. Steve Randazzo, A&S '08, thought it was absurd that students would be prevented from writing articles on issues in which they were directly involved.
The amendment will not prohibit members from writing op-ed pieces in campus papers. During a vote by voice, the amendment passed with 15 votes in favor.
"Us bringing this up is learning to respect each other," said Mike Sokolowski, CSOM '09.
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