The Student Association’s Elections Court decided Thursday that the two candidates for SA treasurer are not qualified to run.Sophomore William Moon and junior George Harris were candidates for SA treasurer. Junior Allen Arant was also running for treasurer, but he dropped out of the race.
Sam Harris, member of the SA History and Tradition Council and senator emeritus, said the SA Constitution sets three qualifications necessary for a student to run for treasurer.
“For the treasurer to run, he must be at least a sophomore, must have completed the last semester at State and must have passed at least six hours in accounting with a grade of C or better,” said Sam Harris, a business graduate student.
He said neither Moon nor George Harris met the third stipulation.
“Both of them are currently taking their second 3-hour class [in accounting], and that’s the reason we’re here tonight,” he said.
Sam Harris said the SA Elections Court debated whether to allow the two treasurer candidates to run.
“We decided that we’re going to stick to the Constitution, and they are not eligible to run,” he said.
He said that since there are no eligible candidates, the new SA president will be responsible for appointing a treasurer.
Last year, there was a question of whether Aaron Rice, then an SA attorney general candidate, would be allowed to run, according to an article in The Reflector. Rice hadn’t attended MSU the previous semester since he had been deployed to Iraq.
The SA decided that to forbid Rice from running would be discrimination based on his veteran status. Rice won the election for attorney general.
Sam Harris said he was not familiar with the Rice decision.