The Associated Students of Madison's Nominations Board faced scrutiny on a number of counts as the Student Council accepted appointments and debated policy Wednesday.
Former ASM university affairs chair Carl Fergus publicly criticized the Nominations Board's interview process, while several anonymous members voiced private concerns regarding the group's violations of its Open Meetings Law.
During open forum, Fergus criticized the board for selecting Governing Board candidates for the Student Activities Center even though only three Nominations Board members had heard both of the top two candidates' interviews for the position.
""That is not fair to those people who have put in their time and want to be involved in ASM,"" Fergus said.
ASM ran out of time and did not come to a decision regarding the Nominations Board's SACGB appointments Wednesday.
Several ASM representatives privately expressed concerns that the Nominations Board twice violated Open Meetings Law in the past week.
Nominations Board Chair Nikolas Magallon defended the committee, saying he was new to the process and unaware of the Open Meetings Law, which requires ASM official business to be open to the public.
""We're working with a deadline here and we're just trying to get things done,"" Magallon said. ""People are telling us that we're messing up. We understand it, and we're just trying to learn.""
Magallon said former ASM Chair Brandon Williams apprised him of the policy violation when the Nominations Board's meeting ran past midnight—the time the SAC closes to the public—but chose to continue the meeting.
The Student Council also debated reconsidering last week's vote on appointments to the Student Services Finance Committee.
Although some representatives said the voting process confused them and that it should be reconsidered, others disagreed.
Rep. Cale Plamann said reconsidering the vote would be illegal under ASM's constitutional bylaws. Others said it was Student Council members' responsibility to understand the voting process before voting, not to call for reconsideration after the fact.
""If you're going to vote on something, know how to do it,"" representative Dan Posca said.
ASM will continue the SACGB appointments debate at its next meeting Wednesday, in addition to taking up other business before concluding for the semester.
