Chloe Epstein/The Ithacan

There’s something rotten in the SAC. The Student Activities Center seems riddled with political intrigue and back stabbing, and that’s not good for anyone on this campus.

Once again, controversy surrounds the election for Student Government Association Executive Board, and students are getting the message that their elected representatives can’t even keep from meddling with their elections, let alone operate an effective government.

This year trouble arose when Residence Hall Association President Sheila Katz launched impeachment proceedings against a candidate for student body president on the eve of the election. Lawrence Mollicone faced many charges, including insubordination. He lost his bid for the SGA presidency by 500 votes and now finds himself out of a job at RHA as well.

While Mollicone may be unfit to serve in either SGA or RHA, the timing of this move stinks. If RHA executive board members had such serious reservations about Mollicone, they should have acted earlier instead of waiting until the night before the election to make their move.

Adding to the follies, RHA held a “special meeting” Monday night and voted to remove Mollicone from his post as RHA treasurer. Not surprisingly, the group refused to allow anyone from outside the organization into the meeting, lest any of the shady details of the proceedings reach the people RHA purports to serve. Hiding behind a deeply flawed constitution that allows such important meetings to be closed, Katz explained that she really had no choice but to close the meeting.

Following the meeting, RHA members refused even to comment on what had gone on. Of course, this is a group that also doesn’t allow outsiders to witness any of their voting procedures, a questionable practice if ever there was one.

It may be that everything was done by the book and nobody did anything wrong — with closed meetings and RHA’s penchant for secrecy, we may never know for sure. But the appearance of impropriety is as damaging to the reputation of elected student leaders as any actual malfeasance that might have been committed.

The time has come for RHA to rewrite its constitution to return the organization to its original mission of serving residential students at Ithaca College. The time has come for SGA election reform that would allow candidates to mount real and honest campaigns. Finally, the time has come for all elected student leaders to recommit themselves to serving the students of Ithaca College, instead of their own self interests.

Student leaders should not be surprised that less than 10 percent of the student body even bothered to vote in last week’s election. It has become abundantly clear student government at Ithaca College is more of a farce than a force.