Young Jae Cho stayed for the whole Associated Students of DVC meeting, even though his fellow members had voted him out an hour before.

During this first ASDVC meeting of the semester, Cho, a Korean exchange student, stood up to tell his fellow board members the reason for his planned absence at a mandatory ASDVC fall retreat, the last requirement for ASDVC board membership. He told them he had a family emergency: he needed to see his mother who was flying into L.A. from Korea.

The vote was six to keep him, 12 to deny and two abstained. Cho was out.

“I was really surprised,” Cho said.

Cho was not only surprised that three other appealing students were pardoned, but also that the board decided to boot him despite advice from ASDVC President Sam Park.

According to Cho, Park had led him to believe an absence was excusable, telling Cho that he could attend a make-up retreat. During the conversation, Park also failed to remind Cho about the appeals process, leaving Cho unprepared to state the nature of his family emergency compellingly, and completely.

“He should have known about the appeals process already,” Park said. “It was listed on the meeting agenda, which was handed out a week before hand.”

Still, Cho did not divulge the full nature of his family emergency, which he has requested to keep private.

“He didn’t elaborate very much about his situation,” ASDVC member Eli Ziskin said. “What he said wasn’t genuine enough.”

ASDVC member Hakeem Montes, a strong supporter of the retreat makeup process, voted to keep Cho.

“It’s been the tradition of the ASDVC to keep members who show they want to be a part of the board,” Montes said. “He should be allowed if he’s passionate enough.”

The seven hour retreat consists of workshops on ASDVC procedure, goal setting meetings, and a “Jeopardy”-themed icebreaker. Some members feel that the retreat is important to socialization and that it devotes a lot of time to relationship building.

“Going to AS meetings without having done the retreat is like going to war without a rifle,” Park said.

Being the first in ASDVC history to lose his membership over a family emergency, Cho still has no regrets.

“Family is more important to me than being a member,” Cho said. “I can be a member next semester.”

To become a member next semester Cho must redo the AS membership petition process, which requires him to recollect 150 student signatures and 50 student comments–and attend the retreat.