Judiciary dismisses charges

Misuse of funds case now has one defendant, A.S.I.

The Cal State Long Beach Associated Students Judiciary granted a motion Monday in a hearing to dismiss charges brought against the Black Cultural Programming Committee by plaintiffs A.S. Senator Steven Negley and CSULB student Joseph Thinn, a former A.S. senator.

The Monday dismissal followed a previous dismissal of charges against the Black Student Union in a Thursday hearing.

The Associated Students Inc., which currently has no legal representation because of the recent A.S. Attorney General's resignation, still remains a defendant in the case.

In a memorandum released Monday by Chief Justice Philip Jordan, the BSU was not the correct party charged in the case and was therefore dismissed with prejudice, which means that Negley and Thinn cannot re-file their petition against the BSU or rename it as a defendant.

The committee was denied a motion to dismiss on Thursday because it had not produced sufficient evidence to prove otherwise, the memorandum stated. However, Negley motioned Monday to dismiss the committee as a defendant, leaving A.S.I. as the only defendant in the case.

"Even if I had won from all parties, I'd still only get remedied from the Associated Students, which is what I wanted in the first place," Negley said.

Negley and Thinn had charged that Associated Students Inc., the BSU and the committee had misused funds on a speech given by Khallid Abdul Muhammad, former member of the Nation of Islam and former aide to Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan. In addition, an earlier petition submitted by Negley stated that the BSU and the committee had deceitfully made a last-minute program change that violated a Smith vs. University of California Board of Regents case ruling.

The ruling states that mandatory student fees cannot be used to support activities or student organizations with focuses that advance political or ideological interests.

See Wednesday's edition for full coverage of Monday's hearing.