President 'is in good standing,' says SGA

The eligibility of Bradley Congelton, Student Government Association president, was questioned recently in an anonymous e-mail sent to the officers and advisors of SGA.

The e-mail, sent on May 20, threatened to "go public" with information the sender believed would deem Congelton ineligible for his seat as SGA president.

The e-mail said that after graduation, Congelton "was no longer considered a student of this university. He has been serving as the SGA president now for 11 days without being in good standing with the university." The e-mail also said that because Congelton had not been accepted to grad school that he was ineligible to serve as president.

This information could not be confirmed and the e-mail failed to provide any documentation for the accusations or past interpretations of the SGA Constitution that may have suggested the president was ineligible.

According to a member of SGA who wishes to remain anonymous, an executive meeting was held on May 27 that included the SGA officers, the Dean of Students and Hodges that discussed Congelton's status as an ECU student

"We were surprised," said Tierni Hodges, SGA Advisor. " … and we moved forward in a professional manner."

"The information is a closed issue," Hodges said in an interview, but she did provide a written letter of interpretation of the issue from the SGA attorney general, Cole Phelps resolving the issue. Hodges is the only SGA representative authorized to release information on the matter.

In his letter he stated, "The constitution fails to define the term 'good standing'," and that he would rely on page 63 of the academic handbook to determine what good standing was in this case.

The student handbook defines good standing as "The minimum academic requirements to avoid probation and/or suspension… ." In Congelton's case this would mean a minimum GPA of 2.0 on coursework completed. For grad school it would mean maintaining a 'C' average.

The attorney general's letter concluded saying, "Therefore, it is my interpretation that students who meet the definition of academic eligibility…and the definition of retention standards…and are enrolled in at least one class are in good standing for the purposes of Chapter 200, 1 (200.1) of the SGA Constitution."

This interpretation clears up misinformation that may have traveled outside of SGA meetings in the past weeks. According to Hodges, Congelton is working towards graduate school.

Congelton and his staff are continuing with their duties as planned and he will remain president for the 2009 - 2010 school year.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com