Turmoil haserupted within the Student Government Association as a result of thetermination of Kellee Craig, who served as the SGA Chief of Staff. Craig was appointedto the top cabinet position shortly after Arthur Monroe, SGA president,received the resignation of Jason Hughes, former chief of staff and current SGAsenator.
Monroe relievedCraig of her duties on Nov. 29, apparently due to a lack of support for him onher part.
“According tothe letter he presented me with, I don’t support him,” Craig said. “I feel thatthis is personal because of a conversation in which I had with Arthur, and Itold him that I felt that he was a liar and a manipulator, however, this wasdone under the open-door policy of this organization, and I have never allowedmy personal feelings to come into play or affect my work.”
The executivecabinet of the SGA has established within itself an open-door policy, whichallows any staff member to express concerns or personal feelings to the chiefof staff, or the president without fear of retaliation.
“I wrote thispolicy and it was approved by Arthur because everyone should be able to expresstheir concerns about feelings of people in the office without fear of losingtheir position,” Craig said. “However, what I personally don’t appreciate isthat Mr. Monroe feels that he has so much power that he can go against his ownlaws when he feels that it isn’t convenient for him.”
According tothe policies established within the cabinet, no disciplinary actions are to betaken against any staff member until the matter has been fullyinvestigated. Furthermore, itstates that the staff member will not be dismissed for the first breach of disciplineexcept in cases of gross misconduct.
“No procedureswere followed in terms of the governing of the executive cabinet, in mydismissal,” Craig said.
After receiving the letter oftermination, Craig drafted a correspondence letter addressed to Monroe in whichshe demanded that she be reinstated immediately.
In the letter,Craig wrote, “There are several reasons for this demand which reference theofficial policies and procedures of the Student Government AssociationExecutive Cabinet which was formally put into effect by you earlier thissemester and now serves as executive order.
She went on towrite, “Your action to terminate me today without following the establishedguidelines were in direct violation of these procedures and represent grossmisconduct on your part for not being aware of the proper protocol and havingno respect for the formal procedures put in place by your executivecabinet.”
In spite ofCraig’s demands and references to the policies and procedures of the executivecabinet, Monroe has refused to reinstate her, and as a result she haspetitioned the senate to investigate the matter.
“I think thatwith this change, what you will see is more productivity and visibility on thepart of the SGA,” Monroe said.
However, Monroedeclined to comment on several other issues pertaining to Craig’s dismissal,including whether are not it was a personal matter and whether are not thisrecent turn of events displays a lack of stability within his administration.
Russell Frazier,SGA adviser, did not care to give his opinions about the situation.
“The matter isstrictly SGA business and Arthur is the CEO (chief executive officer) of theSGA and at the end of the day it is really his decision, so my opinion as anadministrative official really doesn’t matter,” Frazier said.
Frazier declinedto comment on whether or not he agreed with Monroe’s decision to terminateCraig.
