Tuesday’s UF Student Senate meeting was canceled by Senate President Libby Shaw less than three hours before it was set to begin.
In her email to the senators, Shaw said she was canceling the meeting per the request of Student Body President Michael Murphy. She said Murphy wanted to be present for the meeting because it was considering a revision of the 200 codes, which govern the executive branch. The revision had been vetoed by former Student Body President Ian Green.
“It would be counterproductive to consider an executive veto on legislation when the legislation’s authors aren’t present,” Shaw said.
According to Shaw, Senate procedure was followed when canceling the meeting.
Senate Minority Leader Ashley Grabowski, a 23-year-old UF political communication master’s student, said she doesn’t think Shaw is authorized to cancel a Senate meeting once it has been announced and the agenda has been set.
“The Senate President was merely using the veto as an excuse to not meet tonight because meeting before this Thursday is not in the majority party's best interests,” she said.
Grabowski and 18 other senators met despite the cancellation, although they could not proceed with the agenda due to not meeting quorum.
“We still met because the Senate was still technically obligated to meet, and we believe in following the established rules,” Grabowski said.
The Senate Executive Committee and the Replacement and Agenda Committee will meet Thursday to approve summer replacements for Senators who will be out of town.
The cancellation comes after Shaw nullified replacements of absent senators last week because the Senators had chosen the replacements before the date specified in the Student Body constitution.
Shaw said Murphy would contact the senators about scheduling a special meeting later this week.
The Alligator was unable to reach Murphy for comment.
