Legal Question in Constitutional Law in California

I'm the current presiding officer of a college club.

Our constitution states that the subordinate officer assists the superior officer with all tasks and assumes tasks that officer deems necessary.

Last semester, an officer asked his subordinate officer if he'd pick up his luggage for him to carry out to his car following their training session. It was a voluntarily-attended training.

He didn't and was then considered insubordinate.

The offending officer seemed to retaliate by taking over control of our websites in such a way that ejected all other administrators from being able to access it any longer.

As a result, the primary officer called for our members to vote the officer out of his position, which was carried out successfully.

After the fact, since both officers were at the training site on their own accord and, the subordinate was expected to conduct any request at the whim of the superior officer, isn't that an unfair interpretive basis of officers' duties to be subject to invalidation?

(In the interest of justice.)


Asked on 4/23/16, 5:40 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Armen Tashjian Law Offices of Armen M. Tashjian

The superior officer seem to have violated the power entrusted to him by asking the subordinate officer to carry out a task usually reserved for servants!

Superior officer therefore should be punished accordingly.

The subordinate officer, while initially correct in not carrying out the task that was clearly out of the scope of his duties, acted inappropriately by hijacking the websites.

The subordinate officer therefore, should be punished accordingly.

There should be a governing body to deal with these matters as it seems things are in a mess.

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Answered on 4/23/16, 7:59 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Mr. Tashjian's answer seems very fair. But the reason you posted your question on this website must be that you wanted to know what the law says about the situation.

You posted under Constitutional Law, a field based on the United States Constitution and on the constitutions of the various states. The rules you describe as a constitution are really just bylaws with a fancy label.

I would need to know more about your club and its bylaws before I could say what laws are really at issue here. I would also need to know whether your college is public or private. But I doubt you really need a formal legal opinion.

Both officers tried to exploit their positions for selfish reasons which had nothing to do with furthering the interests of the club. The second officer's refusal to carry the first officer's luggage doesn't strike me as insubordinate, since the order was way out of line. Hijacking the website in retaliation was even more out of line. They sound like a pair of spoiled children. Why the club stood behind the more senior of the two is beyond me. The only good solution likely would have been to oust both of them, though whether and how that could be done depends on what the club's rules and the college's say about such matters.

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Answered on 4/24/16, 3:26 pm


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