June 1994 ISGC passes with flying colors

by Rached Zantout

On the night of Friday, May 6, 1994 the general assembly of the MSA (Muslim Student Association) met for a historic voting. The main issue at hand was the approval (or rejection) of the new proposed organization, the Islamic Society of greater Columbus (ISGC).

Preparation for that General Assembly started months before that Friday. The MSA conducted four workshops to educate its members and the Muslim community in general about ISGC. Attendees of each workshop were around 20 brothers or sisters. During those workshops the MSA also collected suggestions from attendees about ISGC. The most prominent objection to the proposed model of ISGC was about the permanency of the members of the board of trustees. Many brothers and sisters felt that a permanent member of board of trustees will help to create dictators in the board of trustees that are not answerable to the community.

Due to the importance of this issue, it was decided by the MSA Executive Committee (EC) to include both models on the ballot so that the general assembly would decide which was better. Another main issue was the election of the four initial members of the board of trustees which will oversee the final stage of bringing ISGC into existence. There were 17 members who were nominated by the general assembly and who accepted their nominations.

During the meeting many objections were raised and many new suggestions were introduced. it was clear that many members did not attend the workshops and therefore necessitated from the MSA president [Khaled Farag] to re-explain many things about ISGC. This lead to the frustration among members who attended the workshops as some of them considered it unfair for them after they took out of their time and attended the workshops.

Another problem was a brother who was authorized by his wife to cast her ballot in absentee. The MSA president explained that absentee ballots were not acceptable although the constitution did not say anything about that issue. A suggestion was put to the floor on whether the voting on the permanency of the members of the board of trustees should be done now or later. Many objections were raised "we are here to vote on issues not vote on postponing them" a sister said. "(members) who do not like the issues we vote on today can change them in later general assembly" the sister affirmed later. Also an objection from a brother who had written a suggestion during the workshop that did not make it to the ballot was noted. The MSA president explained that only suggestions which were given to the MSA by a large number of people made it to the ballot. All other suggestions are still on file and will be dealt with later.

The results of the meeting were that the budget of the MSA was passed by more than 51% of the members. Issue 2 (removing a trustee only by a unanimous vote of other trustees) did not pass. Issue 3 (removing a trustee either by a unanimous vote of other BOT members or by a 90% vote in a general assembly which contains at least 90% of the total ISGC membership) passed with a large difference between acceptance and rejection. Issue 4 (the formation of a new organization called Islamic Society of Greater Columbus) making MSA a sub-organization of ISGC, and accepting the proposed model that was presented in the workshops) passed with only 4 out of the 78 members present voting against it.

The initial plan was to provide both the men and women sections with a microphone so that each would be able to participate in the meeting. At the last minute the microphone did not work in the sisters room. The MSA president [Khaled Farag] attacked the manufacturers of the device and affirmed that a better system should be purchased. The MSA president allowed opening the double door separating the sister's section from the brothers' to facilitate communication.

The newly elected board of trustees for the ISGC are: Ahmed Abdullah, Hany Saqr, Khaled Farag, and Mouhamed Nabih Tarazi.


IQRA! survey of the MSA general assembly for the ISGC

Following the MSA general assembly, IQRA! made an opinion poll of the men and women of the MSA who attended the meeting. The sample was chosen at random made up of 38 men (or 48%) and 7 women (or 37%) of those who attended. Here is what they thought:
Do you understand that the ISGC is about? 35 said yes. 5 said no. 5 said no comment.
Did you attend the workshops? 25 said yes. 20 said no.
Did you approve how this meeting was managed? 18 said yes. 20 said no.
Give me one reason only why you did not approve?
• Khaled [Farag] was one of the nominees. He should not have chaired the meeting.
• Clear regulations must be made regarding the women's participation.
• The absentee votes
• A meeting should take place to discuss the issues before voting.
• All suggestions of the people should be posted before the meeting and those who second them should mark on the ones they approve.
• The issues to be voted on should have been publicized before the meeting (especially the budget and issues 3 and 4) so brothers and sisters could think about them, discuss them and form an opinion about them before coming to the meeting. This would have made the meeting more smooth and we could have finished everything before Isha' prayer as was planned.
• The men's questions suggest they were ill-informed.
• I could not hear well or ask questions. I didn't want to yell.
• No time was given to consider the budged and other issues on the agenda.
• I cannot recall issue 3 being raised in the workshops.
• The men were allowed to open already settled issues; we were there to vote, not debate.
• Proxy voting was acceptable before. I was surprised the rule was changed.