He was good enough to carry a gun for his country, but Sacramento State said he?s not good enough to carry the students? votes.

Senior Chris Missick returned from active duty in the United States Army and applied for candidacy in the Associated Students, Inc. election only to find that he was not qualified.

“Major slates asked me to join them,” Missick said.

“I wanted to run for ASI Executive Vice President. I even went as far as making fliers and organizing my campaign.”

Missick, who volunteered to serve in the Army, found out that ASI election rules prevented him from running because he had not been at Sac State for all 12 months prior to the election.

According to the CSU Office of the Chancellor, Title 5 states that the university can provide students with an extended leave of absence for a maximum of two years for “approved educational reasons and for unique circumstances beyond a student?s control.”

Vice President of Student Affairs Shirley Uplinger said the university looks at the criteria of the California State University, Sac State and the ASI election code in dealing with such matters.

“Chris went by choice. He didn?t get called up. It was his personal decision to do this,” Uplinger said. “We all support the loyalty and patriotism, but this was his planned activity and it was before Sept. 11.”

Uplinger said she was “not being critical” and did not make any personal judgments regarding his decision and had no basis to change the policy for him either.

“Shirley Uplinger told me I couldn?t run because I had to be enrolled for a full year to be qualified,” Missick said. “But I didn?t technically drop out of school, I only took a leave.”

Title 5 also says that students will retain their catalog rights and may register without reapplying to the university. ASI, however, does not have such rules.

“I told Shirley that in a post Sept. 11 era that this is just not right,” Missick said.

Missick, a government major, said he had been actively involved with campus life and ASI before, sitting as Director of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies as well as Vice President of University Affairs.

“I have what I consider to be a strong background with ASI,” Missick said.

Missick said he helped start Sting Team, an ASI freshman volunteer program that promotes student involvement and campus life.

“What happens here sets the precedent of what happens at all the CSU schools for a situation such as this. This is a unique situation, I think, but I don?t understand how I carried a weapon for eight months and now they?re telling me I can?t run for office,” he said.

“The university is a bureaucracy just like any other administration that had the ability to mold and adjust the regulations in place to meet their own ends,” Missick said.

Send comments, questions, or concerns to [email protected]

For questions or information regarding thesite, please contact [email protected]