Azad suspended as Student Body Vice President
Student Body Vice President Taben Azad was additionally removed from his role as Election Commissioner.
SGA Vice-President Taben Azad sits in his office.
With less than a month left in his term as Student Body Vice President, Taben Azad has been suspended from his executive position by Vice President of Student Affairs Teri Hall.
Hall, who was unavailable for comment on Thursday evening, has been at odds with Azad on multiple occasions since her arrival on campus in November.
“I feel it was kind of a form of retaliation to be honest because I’ve been very vocal about my reservations about her as Vice President of Student Affairs,” Azad said. “I’ve posted on Facebook about how some of her comments about Muslim students are inappropriate, and I think she took that personally.”
In addition to his executive suspension, Hall removed Azad from his position as Election Commissioner with less than two weeks until the SGA election.
In a meeting Wednesday to discuss the decisions, Hall cited perceived bias as the rationale behind his removal, Azad said.
“She said that people were worried about my impartiality with this year’s election, and I had asked her specifically if there’s been any proven bias, and she was unfortunately unable to pinpoint anything,” Azad said.
Azad is appealing Hall’s decision to an administrator and the result of the appeal will likely determine whether or not he has seen his last day as Student Body Vice President.
Tensions have risen between SGA and the university administration recently, exacerbated by last week’s sit-in to protest Wichita State President John Bardo. At last week’s SGA meeting, the Student Senate passed a vote of no confidence in President Bardo in a resolution proposed by the protesting We the Students group.
According to Azad, the university administration no longer wanted to deal with a prominent student leader willing to take a stand against controversial decisions made by the university.
“In my honest opinion, she is doing this to make sure that the administration has someone who will not critique or criticize the work they do when it’s necessary,” Azad said.
Matthew Kelly is a former editor-in-chief and managing editor for The Sunflower. Kelly graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in political science...
We need to go on Strike • Mar 29, 2017 at 11:00 pm
Can someone please figure out how we can clean house of the WSU Adminstration?
They ALL need to leave.
They are ruining my education and how do we all come together and DO something?
We need to go on a MASSIVE strike. We ACTUALLY have a LOT of power.
I’m talking every single person needs to collaborate and plan a strike. We ARE the reason they have their jobs. Without us, they can’t be.
We have the power to fire them. We all have to get together. Those who resonate with the sentiment that the Administration is absolutely corrupt and they are ruining our education…
Many is more powerful than one. We can actually do this.
Concerned Student • Mar 30, 2017 at 9:46 am
Dear “We need to go on a strike”,
If the WSU administration is “ruining” your education, simply leave. You have the right to get out and attend a different university. The flaw in your argument, is that every single person does not want to strike against the school. In fact, the silent majority of us are enjoying our time here and want to continue our educations without the loud minority kicking and screaming.
In summary, you are a student. Not an employee. Instead of striking, why dont you just stop spending money here fore your education.
Pre-med LAS • Apr 11, 2017 at 12:08 am
I am pleased to announce that I have withdrawn from wsu and will be attending Newman University for their premed program!!!!
Shocker Til Death • Mar 30, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Taben did what he did. It had consequences. He chose those consequences. Taben’s actions have been both good and bad. But, the good can’t negate the bad and the bad was what got him suspended. His actions with We The Students were inappropriate for the VP of the SGA and a paid employee of the university. Who knows how much of his time on the job was spent organizing an activist cause against the institution that pays him. And, lets be honest here. He was pretty prepared when the activist students stormed the meeting and took over the agenda. He did not do his job as the chair of the meeting when he allowed it to proceed along those lines. He should have recessed the meeting and ask security to have the students removed with a promise to schedule them at the next meeting. But, no, he had an agenda that was in concert with THAT organization and not the SGA. His actions have driven incredible escalation of tension. His departure from the scene was necessary. Let’s just get this new election behind us and hope that the next SGA will be more productive.
Wendy Letter • Mar 27, 2017 at 2:29 pm
Dear Don Manly,
If you really believe that Taben Azad didn’t know that the “We the Students” group, of which he is shown as Admin, did not plan to attend the SGA meeting & propose a vote of no confidence, then I’m afraid there is no point discussing it. “We had no idea it was coming” is an outlandish response to my mind, given his posts shown here: https://thesunflower.com/15883/news/sga-vice-president-shown-as-administrator-on-protestors-facebook-group/
The Accountant • Mar 27, 2017 at 11:31 am
Way to go Dr. Hall! It’s about time an adult steps in and puts these children in the corner for a time-out.
Wendy Letter • Mar 24, 2017 at 11:04 pm
Just wondering why the Sunflower didn’t include a link or info from a previous article in which it was shown that Azad lied when he stated he knew nothing of the sit-in before it occurred, despite being shown as the Facebook Administrator who invited others to the sit-in? Isn’t that bit of info relevant to this story? Just curious.
Don Manly • Mar 26, 2017 at 10:49 pm
Dear Wendy Letter, I believe you are confusing two different things. I believe Azad invited people to sit in at the presidents office and said he knew nothing of the sit in during the SGA meeting, which brought out the no confidence vote.
Richard Spilman • Mar 24, 2017 at 9:14 pm
I suspect he will be reinstated after the election. It may well be that she cleared this ahead of time with the administration. Oddly, people don’t look to history for guidance on such things. To remove someone from an elected student post, citing a bias for which there is no evidence, just makes her situation worse–and Bardo’s. I doubt that students will accept this, and they may not accept the newly elected SGA group, if they kowtow. No one, especially from outside the area, wants to attend a school in crisis–and this sort of thing makes a crisis out of nothing.
Real Shocker • Mar 24, 2017 at 3:53 pm
Was Teri Hall not available for comment Thursday night because she had not yet met with President Bardo to know what her comment was or did Lou Heldman tell her not to comment to slow the story down past the weekend?
Real Shocker • Mar 24, 2017 at 12:32 pm
Wow. This is pretty comical. Here is the part of the Code of Conduct Teri Hall is using:
XII. Temporary Conduct Suspension
a. The Vice President for Student Affairs may temporarily suspend a
Respondent prior to a Hearing if the Vice President for Student Affairs
determines that the Respondent’s conduct presents a danger to
himself/herself or the University community. Suspension may be imposed
only (a) to ensure the safety and well-being of members of the University
community or preservation of University property; (b) to ensure the
Student’s own physical or emotional safety and well-being; or (c) if the
Student poses a definite threat of disruption of or interference with the
normal operations of the University.
The only threat of disruption of or interference with the normal operation of the University is the effort of Teri Hall and the Administration to get Paige Hungate elected. Apparently Taben was interfering with that effort. The only safety and well-being threatened at the University is that of the Administration because students and now faculty are on to them and finally taking action.
Paige is a good friend of Andy Schlapp’s daughter so she is clearly the choice of the Administration to be the next SGA President.
This effort by Teri Hall and the Administration seems to be an Abuse of the Student Conduct Procedures which is in the Code of Conduct. David Moses used an outside attorney to try and get Joseph Shepard but even that didn’t work because that outside attorney could find nothing to get Joseph on. It is amazing to see the lengths the Administration is going to try and get at Joseph and Taben. It is their effort to get them to “resign” like Eric Maki and Christine.
It is clear they had to get rid of Christine Schneikart-Luebbe so Teri could make up some action against them in some manner. Which internal administrator that wants to keep their job is going to find for Taben? Good luck with that. They all work for Bardo so this should be an easy one to read.
The Administration wouldn’t step in when a conservative Christian donor opposed Muslim students using the Chapel because they couldn’t impede Freedom of Speech. I guess that doesn’t work for Taben when he expressed his concerns.
Don Manly • Mar 24, 2017 at 10:21 am
Does anyone ever wonder why Wichita State has a four year graduation rate of 18%? Or a 6 year rate of around 44%, which includes a large number of students who left WSU for a different university. It’s not because there are a lot of snowflakes in this school, it’s that administrative policies do not support students and learning.
Concerned Student • Mar 28, 2017 at 12:47 pm
Or maybe the problem is students simply don’t want to work hard enough to graduate within 4 years. Calculating the hours one must take to graduate on time is simple math. Every student in every university has to do things the same way.
I know I’m going to graduate in 6 years because I do not have the time to take more than 14 credit hours a semester. That’s just how university works. To assume its a problem with administrative policies is to ignore many other variables that come in to play.
We need to go on Strike • Mar 29, 2017 at 11:29 pm
…And then the Administration was like, “touché.”
Tyler Miles • Mar 23, 2017 at 11:44 pm
Good for Hall! The President and Vice Presidents of our student body have been nothing but divisive.
Our SGA apparently isn’t much better, with 20 members voting no confidence, pertaining to President Bardo. What’s hilarious about that vote is the fact that one of the major complaints has been about lack of shared governance. Well, you childish group of “leaders”, you just gave a public record as to why the real adults on this campus have been slow to work with you as a group. At least, 20 of you that voted yes on the resolution.
Get these guys out of here.
Don Manly • Mar 26, 2017 at 11:15 pm
Has policies from administration ever affected your education or you personally. Only around 19% (first time/full time) students manage to graduate in four years? Why? .. lack of policies that facilitate learning. Here is one website that backs up my claim. This data ultimately come from federal statistics started under the Obama administration to help students identify failing universities. http://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/wichita-state-university/academic-life/graduation-and-retention/
Dustin • Mar 23, 2017 at 11:37 pm
This is absolutely atrocious! Having followed the happenings with the decisions “higher-ups” have made; I’m appalled to see that this is the reaction from a blatantly obvious crony of the administration. Something has to give, and if colleges and universities nationwide are going to be criticized as being “hotbeds of liberalism, snowflakes, and safe spaces”; then the administration needs to stop acting like said “snowflakes” and deal with the critique passed down by the student body pres. (who speaks for the student body, mind you… Hence the title bestowed.) and own up to whatever accusations have been levied against them. That, or they need to defend their goddamn position. Instead, they’ve opted to cower behind a pawn of their own making and do nothing while injustice is allowed to flourish! Absolutely stunning exhibition of cowardice, Good Ol’ Boy politics, and Trumpism I’ve ever had the displeasure to witness. Get yourselves together and fly straight, because y’all are acting like a bunch of damned fools; only now, it’s on a much larger stage. Disgusting…….
We need to go on Strike • Mar 29, 2017 at 11:34 pm
And then the Administration was all like, “touché.”