The irregularities in the selections process for the SGA First Year Council included the altering of applicants’ grade point averages by SGA officials, according to SGA officers involved with the investigation.
Speaker of the SGA Senate Ryan Flamerich and Senate Ethics Committee Chair Lauren Hardison confirmed that the applications for the student government’s freshman leadership forum were invalidated on Wednesday, Sept. 21 after an investigation began that led to the resignation of former SGA President Grant Cochran.
Sorting of applicants began at 6 p.m. on Sept. 20 and lasted until 2 a.m. on Sept. 21. At that point Hardison, there to monitor the process for Flamerich, left with another senator.
“Everybody acted like they were leaving. So a senator left with me to make sure that I had left, and then they all stayed,” she said. “I drove to the parking lot at 3:30 a.m. and have pictures of all their cars.”
After being informed that the selections process was still ongoing, Flamerich said he walked into the SGA office around the same time to find applications spread across the floor and noticed that changes had been made.
“At that point, I noticed that there were multiple changes to numerous applications in that process through markings, through eraser marks, through changing of grades, through changing of GPAs,” Flamerich said. “It was pretty evident to me walking by.”
The FYC Selections Committee included Sen. Davis Vaughn, Sen. Mary Sellers Shaw, Sen. Taylor Smith, Sen. Chandler Wright, Senate staffer Braxton Billings and Zach Freeman, a member of the Judicial Board. About 45 minutes after Flamerich left, Vaughn, Shaw, Smith and Billings all clocked out of the SGA office in the Ferguson Center at 4:17 a.m., according to SGA records.
Former First Year Council Director Sara Lavender, who was the first to resign in the FYC investigation, selected the members of the selection committee to assist her in the process of sorting these applications, Flamerich said.
As First Year Council director, Lavender had a responsibility to participate in the process of grading applications, according to the SGA Constitution. SGA office records show that Lavender checked out of the SGA office at 8:54 p.m. on Sept. 20. Lavender was there with the selections committee when Hardison left at 2 a.m., Hardison said. Flamerich also said Lavender was present in the SGA office with members of the selections committee at 3:30 a.m. when he returned.
Freeman sent an email to Flamerich and The Crimson White on Sept. 21, before Judicial Affairs took over the investigation into First Year Council, saying that he witnessed an official mark through an applicant’s low GPA, bumping it into the mid-to-upper 3’s to give the applicant enough points to get an interview.
Flamerich said he could not confirm whether the individuals who checked out at 4:17 a.m. were directly responsible for the tampering with applications that led to Cochran’s resignation. The Judicial Affairs investigation into the tampering is an ongoing process, according to SGA Attorney General David Simpson.
“The SGA couldn’t handle the investigation because we didn’t have the structure [within the Code of Laws] to handle the situation,” Simpson said.
On the morning of Sept. 21, Simpson investigated the applications for irregularities and invalidated the selections process. Cochran resigned two days later on Friday.
The paper applications were only the first step for freshmen applying to First Year Council. For those who made the first cut, there was to be an interview process before membership was determined. According to the SGA Constitution, the applications were to have been blinded by SGA Executive Secretary Kelsey Kurth to keep applicants’ names secret.
Flamerich said the people who actually changed GPAs—at least one official involved in the selections process—admitted to it. They also admitted to drawing stars and dots on certain applications to mark which applicants would be automatically granted an interview.
“Some of the individuals who were in that sorting room were not informed—just a majority of the individuals that [Lavender] selected were told [of the plan to alter the applications],” Flamerich said. “It’s our understanding that they chose three individuals from select fraternities and sororities to be given [interviews].”
In an interview with The Crimson White on Oct. 25, Flamerich gave a prepared statement in regard to the incident.
“No one comes to college hoping to get involved so that they can corrupt the FYC selections process,” he said. “Somewhere along the way their judgment gets clouded. I know all the people involved in this. Many of them I consider friends, and they are all great people.
“The SGA should exist to help good people become good leaders, and we are obviously failing at that,” he said.
Vaughn, Shaw, Smith, Lavender and Kurth declined to comment. Billings was unavailable for comment.
Tray Smith and Victor Luckerson contributed to this report.
