The highest governing body of the Students’ Union, the Students’ Legislative Council, voted 13 to six on March 29 not to accept as justified the reasons art faculty representative Bhuvana Sankaranarayanan gave for missing a previous SLC meeting. Sankaranarayanan had asked council to be excused for an absence at a previous SLC meeting due to a medical emergency. All representatives are allowed up to three unexcused absences before they are asked to resign and lose their rights at council.
Sankaranarayanan told council that of her previous absences, two were also due to sickness and she was advised by her doctor not to attend the meetings.
Fellow arts rep Lara Schmitz said the note Sankaranarayanan brought before council was issued the Friday after the meeting. The note stated she was unable to attend “for medical reasons.” Schmitz said she didn’t feel this was valid enough proof of a medical emergency.
After the vote, Sankaranarayanan sent out an email to all students in the arts faculty explaining her departure.
“I must end my term early as a faculty of arts representative due to missing a meeting for having the flu last week,” Sankaranarayanan wrote. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you to the Student’s [sic] Union as well as to the university administration.”