Over the weekend, Student Government was slated to hold an emergency Senate meeting that would have served two purposes: determine whether the director of residency has a future in the organization, as well as discuss a resolution aimed at creating a better Student Government.

Instead, the Senate meeting was canceled partially due to the impending blizzard. While the chief officers still met face-to-face to have a discussion, it took an issue that has been public since the beginning and turned it into a private manner.

The ISD Editorial Board prefaces this editorial with the intent to underscore that this entire conflict should have been handled more proactively by Student Government leadership and through a more private forum.

Of course students deserve the right to know about what is happening within their Student Government — both the good and bad. However, an hour dedicated to addressing the issue during open forum Wednesday was inappropriate and wrong.

Taking an issue that has been brought to the public eye in addition to requesting input from all parties within Student Government, and then stripping them from their ability to do so at the established time, only further extends the ability to find a solution. 

The bad weather conditions had been predicted long before the emergency Senate meeting was set. It should not be used as an excuse for cancellation.

The issues facing Student Government are systematic. They are long-standing. They are not new. It shouldn’t have taken an 11-minute Snapchat by Director of Residency Dozmen Lee to spark the discussion, which then immediately led to rage and dismay.

Under these conditions, conflict cannot be managed.

Despite sharing a relatively small office space in the Memorial Union, Student Government leadership had not been communicating effectively. They were not, and up until Saturday night had not, been talking to each other about the conflict in a productive and solution-oriented manner.

The ISD Editorial Board — without knowing what was discussed in the chief officer meeting held Saturday night — hopes that the meeting was productive and set the groundwork in finding both long- and short-term solutions.

The chief officers of Student Government must lead by example. We hope that Saturday night served as an example in conflict resolution, both for those directly involved in the initial conflict and for the sake of the student body.