The decision by Undergraduate Student Government’s Supreme Court, which favored USG against SBU-TV for closing the closed-circuit on-campus television channel, is being appealed by the station.
Reasons for the decision to appeal include not being recognized as a club, USG President Matthew Graham leaving the room during voting time and the channel being a member of the press.
“We’re not denying it’s a quasi-independent agency,” said Brandon Baiden, a member of SBU-TV. “But it’s still a club.”
According to the decision, which was headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Julian Cordero, who was appointed by USG, the question in the case was whether USG had the legal authority to close the offices of SBU-TV and transfer them to the USG Office of Communications. Many questions were brought up by SBU-TV, the petitioner, that were not answered because they did not relate to legal aspects of the court case.
“I think it’s very obvious students involved are extremely passionate,” said Moiz Khan Malik, a member of the defending side, who is also running in the upcoming elections for USG president. “This is the first time I’ve been on a winning side of a brief.”
The court case was originally brought up when the Reformation of Stony Brook Television Act was brought to the Senate floor last minute Thursday night and approved by a 12-2-5. The change removed its current staff and replaced them with USG-chosen staff, which USG members said will improve the organization.
“It has to be something that benefits the campus community,” Malik said. Ways to do that will include “multimedia services, some elements of photo.”
USG decided to close SBU-TV originally because they were being given $35,000 and didn’t do much.
“I think the court is right,” Graham said. “We save money by closing the closed-circuit.”
According to Graham, USG would like to see SBU-TV move in a new direction, including online, and to be “a place for students to get information.”
But Baiden said the station is still “protected by club bylaws,” he said. “No matter how we became, were formed, acted.”
“Traditional or non-traditional, the fact still remains that SBU-TV was a club, which was also stated and acknowledged in the respondents’ brief. SBU-TV was funded as a club by USG since it’s existence. We feel that the court failed to look over the clubs and organizations Bill of Rights, in which SBU-TV is protected under because it is a club,” read the appeal document, which was sent early Sunday morning. “Not only is SBU-TV a club, it is a media organization and is insured by USG as media.”
But the decision said there is no clear attempt to alter the broadcasting agency.
“The limiting of SBU-TV’s press distribution cannot be detangled from the closure of Closed Circuit Television operations for which Legislative and Executive bodies no longer have confidence in as the proper medium for marketing and communication for Stony Brook University,” as written in the decision.
Another issue presented in the appeal was Graham leaving during the Senate meeting. According to the USG Constitution, a voting member cannot leave during a vote.
Graham said neither he, nor any executive council member, has voting rights and that “the room was not reserved for past 9 [p.m.] so I stepped out to ask if it would be alright to take some extra time.”
The appeal is still pending in the USG Supreme Court.