The first amendment has a reputation of raising questions regarding limits, such as if the first amendment protects hate speech, or whether or not you can ban certain words or acts of self expression.

Such questions were raised last Wednesday, the 25^th, when the student government, ASDVC, deleted posts and comments from the ASDVC Facebook page. DVC Students for a Democratic Society (SdS) was raising concerns over the efficiency and lack of student-awareness of the ASDVC.

The posts and comments were made on Tuesday afternoon, after SdS members witnessed several ASDVC board members doing their homework during an important meeting where the budget was being planned.

SdS was outraged over their posts being deleted, calling it censorship by the student government. They also claim that they have been banned from posting further and have been blocked from the ASDVC group. The student government took the position that the ASDVC Facebook page was not officially endorsed by the ASDVC, and therefore they held no accountability regarding the actions of the ASDVC page.

Their stance was that any problems the SdS had on Facebook should be handled by Facebook.

The issue on Facebook however, was not the SdS’s only concern. The SdS has also been critical of the ASDVCs lax attitude regarding some proper procedures. The ASDVC website only has copies of agendas and minutes of their weekly meetings up to December of 2011. This missing information is required to be updated regularly so the public knows where its money is going.

SdS also became extremely concerned regarding a secret meeting that took place Thursday the 26^th, wherein several high profile ASDVC members met in a back room to discuss ASDVC business. California law requires that the agenda of a public meeting must be posted at least three days before the meeting takes place. The exception to this rule is when an emergency and special meeting is held which still require a minimum of 24 hours notice.

This meeting that took place on the 26^th had received same-day approval.  The meeting was intended to address promotion of the student government, discussing a memorandum of an ASDVC fund for classified staff, and amendments to the ASDVC constitution.

ASDVC meetings are required to be public, and this meeting was no exception. It was sat in on by SdS members Nick Holmes and John Michaelson, who raised questions and took video of the meeting.

The meeting was eventually cancelled as various members the ASDVC that were present felt they should back out of the questionable meeting, though not before Vice President of Legislative Affairs Alex Silva proposed the meeting be made Ad Hoc committee which is a special kind of meeting that has an attendee cap and is reserved for affairs not normally addressed by regular meetings, according to Roberts Rules of Order. This proposal was quickly shot down though, as the business under discussion was regular ASDVC business and could not qualify the meeting for Ad Hoc committee.