The UF Supreme Court ruled the Student Body president may fire members at his or her own discretion under the Student Body Constitution.
Student Government recently released the records from the March 21 meeting. The court reheard the trial of Billy Vranish, the former director of external affairs. Vranish appealed to the court after Student Body President Tj Villamil fired him Jan. 28. Vranish believes he was fired after Villamil heard he considered being former UF Student Body President Ben Meyers’ campaign manager, if Meyers decided to run in the Spring 2013 SG elections.
Ryan Gilbert, who represented Villamil, argued Villamil was within his power to fire Vranish for not doing his job.
Acting Supreme Court Chief Justice Tim Mason explained that according to the Constitution, the president has the authority to remove officers of executive departments at his discretion to the extent that he complies with nondiscrimination requirements.
“The way that the constitution is drafted, it doesn’t seem to provide a restriction on the president’s removal authority,” he said.
The court deadlocked over the constitutionality of the Governmental Boards, Commissions and Subsidiary Organizations codes and how they may contradict the UF Constitution, and the basis of why Vranish was fired at its first meeting Feb. 24.
“I could have had a fair hearing in the impeachment, but if the president has utter say it makes it almost impossible for a student to protect themselves,” Vranish said, according to meeting minutes.
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
