NIU’s Amnesty International discovered Monday that SA Vice President Steve Coloia suspended the group nearly a week earlier.

Amnesty President Donna Lundstrom said she found out the SA-recognized group was put on suspension April 10 for banning homosexuals when she tried to get a University Programming and Activities stamp for some flyers promoting Jamnesty, a musical fund raising event.

“We did not get a phone call, a memo, nothing.” Lundstrom said.

Coloia claimed he made numerous attempts to contact several members of Amnesty without success.

Coloia apologized for not having made contact with the group but he said that it must share some of the blame.

“There was an attempt to notify them but they knew they were in violation of the SA constitution. Why are they even trying to use the services of the Student Association?” Coloia said.

Lundstrom said Coloia did not attempt to contact her and asked Monday why she had not stopped in at the SA office to check the organization’s status after the members violated the constitution.

SA President Huda Scheidelman said she was unaware of the suspension until she was informed of it by Lundstrom.

When asked why Scheidelman was not informed of the suspension, Coloia said “write whatever you want, I know how The Northern Star is.”

Lundstrom said Amnesty banned homosexuals from voting membership earlier this month to protest what they feel is a contradiction by the administration.

Allowing the Reserved Officers Training Corps (ROTC) to ban homosexuals is a violation of NIU’s constitution that the administration supports, Lundstrom said.

“Had I not gone to the UP&A office, which I only do about twice a month, we could have gone through with Jamnesty without knowing we were on suspension,” she said.

Jamnesty usually is funded by the SA Campus Activities Board. However, suspended organizations are not eligible for SA funding.

Coloia said, the Amnesty members “are preventing themselves from providing services to the NIU community by violating the (SA) constitution.”

Coloia, who is an SA Internal Affairs Committee member, said he is obligated to suspend Amnesty for violating the SA constitution. However, Coloia added, “My only concern is with rectifying things with Amnesty.”

Lundstrom said no one in the SA senate was contacted about the suspension and “As far as I know, Steve Coloia did this on his own.”

However, as SA vice president, Coloia is a member of the Student Affairs Committee that has the power to “temporarily suspend recognition” of any organization that is in violation of the SA rules according to the SA bylaws.

Lundstrom said she will meet with Coloia today to discuss the issue.

Coloia said his main concern is that the organization becomes recognized again.