SFC discusses removing member Cho from office

In a tense and confrontational meeting, the Student Fee Committee discussed voting “no confidence” against member Hyung Cho, because some members say he has avoided his job duties.

Cho denies the allegations.

A memo sent to SFC members Feb. 5 outlines the reasons why member Julian Jenkins and Vice Chair Karin Zimmer think Cho is not fit to hold the position he was appointed to at the start of January.

The memo states that Cho has repeatedly left meetings without reason, failed to act as a suitable SFC liaison for the student groups he was assigned, and, among other reasons, voted with the SFC majority against his own wishes.

Other members of the committee, including Kit Seulean and Chair Amanda Newberg, reiterated parts of the memo’s statements.

The SFC allocates close to $12 million in student fees this year to student groups, including the Vanguard.

Cho admitted to some of the accusations, denied others and said most come down to interpretation of what his job duties are. Cho said he is considering quitting his position on the SFC because of the allegations.

Regarding leaving meetings before they were over, Cho said many meetings have gone long over the time they were scheduled. He said he feels that in order to plan his non-SFC schedule, he needs to know when meetings will end, and he has occasionally left early if the meetings have gone long past their scheduled end time. Something he said other members have done as well.

At the SFC meeting last night, Interim Dean of Students Michele Toppe said that it is one of the SFC job requirements to be available for unlimited hours.

Zimmer said that each of the SFC members were told before they began work that the committee would require long hours, often longer than was scheduled.

“That was made very clear to him when he started his position,” Zimmer said after Wednesday’s meeting. “It was made clear to everyone.”

“You don’t have the level of commitment that is necessary for a liaison,” Jenkins told Cho during the meeting

About not being a suitable SFC liaison, which would include failing to contact student groups assigned to him, Cho said he has correspondence from many of his groups that say they are happy with his performance. Jenkins said at the meeting that he has an e-mail from Campus Crusade for Christ, one of the groups Cho is a liaison for, that states they have not been contacted by him yet.

Other allegations against Cho in the memo include: closing his binder when a student group was presenting their budget to the SFC, sending text messages on his cell phone in a meeting–which Cho said was an SFC related e-mail–and ignoring information presented to him.

Cho said he feels SFC members are banding against him and have sought out things he has done that everyone on the committee has also done multiple times.

He said he is not the only member to leave a meeting, to send text messages or do many of the other things that the memo says are reasons he is not fulfilling his job duties. He said the main reason he thinks the SFC is looking to get rid of him is because he brought concerns to the Vanguard about the inner workings of the committee [“SFC member says chair asked him to skip meeting,” Jan. 29].

He called their actions retaliation.

“I think they are being hypocrites,” Cho said.

SFC Chair Amanda Newberg said she talked to Cho about issues she had with his job performance before he ever came to the Vanguard.

The SFC decided to wait until next week’s meeting to make a possible no confidence vote which, if passed, would have to then be sent to the Judicial Board for review. Only the Judicial Board could remove Cho from the committee.

If the committee wants him out, Cho said he will quit instead of being in a committee where there is so much tension. He would not say for sure if he will leave the committee before next week, but said he is leaning that way.

“It seems like I am being a hindrance to the SFC,” he said. “I know where it’s going and I don’t know if I want to be a part of that process.”