Student union historian Monica Sayler will assume her role as Judicial Council president April 1, replacing Elijah Jones for the 2026-2027 calendar year. Student body president-elect Jones, who will begin his term on the same day, nominated Sayler, a sophomore, to be his successor. Her nomination was approved by the senate Feb. 18.
“When I became Judicial Council President, she surpassed what I was able to accomplish as Historian, building the Student Union Archives from the ground up and forming the first-ever Historian Team,” Jones wrote in a statement to The Observer.
He continued, “I have no doubt that the way she leads the Historian Team with dignity will transfer over to this new role.”
Tasked with overseeing the actions of the student government members, the Judicial Council has the sole power of interpretation according to its website and the student union constitution.
It determines the constitutionality of student union resolutions and enforcement enactments, “[issuing] binding opinions regarding questions of interpretation.” The group is also responsible for peer advocacy, helping students navigate hearings and conferences from the Notre Dame Office of Community Standards.
In addition to serving as chairperson of the Judicial Council, the president also serves in other roles within student government, including as chairperson of the ethics council and as a non-voting member of the student senate.
Originally setting her sights on the position of vice president of elections, conversations with other Judicial Council officers changed Sayler’s perspective.
“When all the other officers started to decide what they were doing for next year, many were going abroad, and so we would have had a high turnover rate,” she said. “So that influenced me a bit because I really wanted to make sure that we could continue with the things that we’ve started that have been so successful.”
Student outreach is a top priority for Sayler, who felt that most students only see the public-facing role the Judicial Council plays on campus. She hopes that utilizing social media can increase Judicial Council’s transparency by enabling them to communicate more effectively with the student body.
“Using [social media] to promote the peer advocacy program, to promote voter turnout around elections, is something that we really want to do,” she said. “We are also working to get a flyer sent out to students in the first couple weeks of school … so that they know the [peer advocacy] options available to them.”
The purpose of the Judicial Council, according to the student union constitution, is to “ensure that the Student Union operates ethically and within [the] Constitution, bylaws, and statutory codes.” Regarding accountability, Sayler highlighted the need for proper communication with student body members.
“I think the process we have right now has been working pretty well. I think that the one thing that lets a lot of things slip through the cracks is reporting. I think that a lot of times, people don’t know that other people are breaking the rules. I want to make sure that we’re communicating the rules as effectively as possible so that those kinds of things can be caught before they get out of hand.”
“I think that our hearing process does a pretty good job of getting the information from both sides and of debating an appropriate sanction,” she added.
When asked what a successful term as Judicial Council president would look like, Sayler emphasized high voter turnout as a metric for success, with the addition of impartial enforcement of constitutional conduct.
“Obviously, I want to have minimal amounts of ethics and election violations, but I also don’t want that to be because people aren’t reporting things that are wrong,” she said. “Some things are out of your control, so if we do have a high number of cases, I want to make sure that they’re dealt with as fairly as possible.”
Outgoing student body president Jerry Vielhauer expressed confidence and support for Sayler and her upcoming tenure in a written statement to The Observer.
“She has a lot of experience as a historian, and everyone that has worked with her speaks very highly of her,” he wrote. “Next year, I’m confident that we will see the Judicial Council continue to uphold the integrity of the constitution and help to increase voter turnout for elections, as they have done quite well this year.”
