SGA Holds Special Session to Address Complaint Against Senator

A special session for the Student Government Association held a meeting that took place on Sunday, May 9 to discuss a complaint made against a senator. The complaint was filed by Senator Samir Yusuf against Senator Mohamed Mohamed, who was believed to have discussed confidential information held at an executive session. 

Members of SGA had continued an investigation of the allegations that were surrounding Senator Mohamed. Hours of discussion and investigations had led the internal review committee to come to the decision that claims against the senator had merit.

According to the meeting minutes the Representative of the Internal Review had gone on to read the formal complaint that was at hand.

It was summarized in the SGA meeting minutes that the formal complaint that was made against Senator Mohamed was, “Senator Mohamed has taken a stance on political issues, but has not taken care to separate his political views and stances from SGA. The following being a violation of Article I Section 2C of the constitution.”

Leading up to this complaint, Senator Mohamed was set to speak at an event, that was not named specifically, on April 30, whereas his speech had contained confidential information. Prior to the speech, Mohamed was approached by a member of SGA and had asked whether it was a violation of confidentiality or not. From there, the member of SGA informed Mohamed that a small portion of the speech would reveal information that was discussed in an SGA executive meeting. 

According to the meeting minutes from this special session meeting, Senator Mohamed had asked whether he would be given a warning if he continued to speak upon the confidential information. 

Senator Mohamed had explained during the special session that he had asked Vice President Hart whether it broke confidentiality or not. After being told that there was a portion of the speech violating confidentiality, he had revised it. 

He had also claimed that he was not approached prior to Senator Yusuf filing the complaint. According to Senator Mohamed, Senator Yusuf looked over his statement and did not state anything about violating confidentiality. 

Senator Mohamed had also claimed that the quotes from media posts were from a meeting with Sheila Gestring and had been repeated during the SGA executive meeting. 

Following Senator Mohamed’s statements, various members of SGA and audience members voiced their thoughts on the issue. These  statements mostly sided with Senator Mohamed. The consensus had failed, leaving Senator Mohamed to continue his SGA position with no extra training.