SGA Senate response to impeachment inquiries

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:36:30 -0400

Greetings UMBC Student Body,

We, the Senate of the UMBC Student Government Association, believe that it is our responsibility to maintain transparency and communication, upholding our oath to promote and defend the interests and well-being of UMBC’s undergraduate students.

It has come to our attention that a petition to impeach SGA President Anthony Jankoski and SGA Executive Vice President Daniel Amsini has been circulated. It has also come to our attention that this petition has been signed by over 600 undergraduate students. The Senate acknowledges each student's right to petition and to voice concerns to the SGA as stated in Article 6.3 of the SGA Constitution.

Article 5.6.5 of the SGA Constitution (available on our website: http://sga.umbc.edu) states that “a petition for impeachment signed by at least 5% of all UMBC undergraduates; in which case the Senate shall conduct a trial of the accused, and can remove the accused by a 2/3 vote of Senators present at a meeting.” According to the UMBC’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the number of enrolled undergraduate students in the Spring 2015 semester was 10,598; therefore, this petition requires 529.9 (rounded to 530) to meet the requisite 5% of the student body.

In accordance with the aforementioned Article, as well as Article 8 of the SGA Bylaws (also available on our website), the SGA President is responsible for forwarding the petition to the Speaker of the Senate within 5 days of officially receiving the petition. Additionally, an officer against whom an impeachment has been initiated is entitled to be notified within 5 business days of the passage of the charges and disclosure of the evidence supporting impeachment, as well as at least 10 business days after passage of the charges in which to prepare a defense before trial. At the time of this statement's release, the Senate has not officially received the petition.

Given this information, the Senate has come across critical barriers to proceeding with an impeachment trial. The Senate has not had the opportunity to elect a Speaker and Assistant Speaker, as this is the first order of business at our first meeting of the Fall semester. The roles of Summer Speaker and Assistant Summer Speaker, held by Andres Garcia and Sarah Lilly respectively, are informal in nature. In order for a Speaker to be elected before our first meeting of the Fall, a special meeting would have to be called.

The Senate has determined that a special meeting would be unethical, as a few Senators living outside of the area are unable to attend such a meeting and contribute their input in an impeachment trial. Additionally, the Senate Procedural Rules prohibit voting by proxy. It is our desire that each member has an equal opportunity to hear others, to speak their concerns, and to vote; therefore, we have chosen to postpone official impeachment proceedings until our first regular meeting of the Fall 2015 semester on Monday, August 31, after electing a Speaker and Assistant Speaker.

In preparation for this meeting, the Senate has chosen who will serve as Trial Manager. Article 7 of the SGA Bylaws, which governs Impeachment Trial procedure, states that the Managers are to levy the charges against the accused and make arguments for those charges. A majority of the Senate has decided that the Manager position should be filled by a current Senator. Out of the two Senators who expressed interest, a majority has selected Senator Andres Garcia to fill the Manager position.

Some students have expressed concern about the perceived conflict of interest brought by appointing Garcia as manager, as he was a strong advocate for the Jankoski-Amsini campaign during the election. While we recognize that Senator Garcia has worked closely with their campaign previously, we place full confidence in his integrity. Senator Garcia will remain impartial and will relay all evidence that has any bearing on the outcome of the trial. Please know that Senator Garcia will not be exclusively collecting evidence, the Senate will be working together over the next few months to pursue and collect any evidence deemed important. The key will be for Andres and the rest of the Senate to go about these proceedings with an open mind, and to let the facts and hard evidence present itself.

We appreciate your support and patience at this time. We would like you to know that we appreciate any questions, comments, and concerns that you may have and encourage you to bring them to our attention via e-mail. We will do our best to respond to them promptly. We look forward to working with you to resolve this matter and to strengthening the work of the SGA over the next year.

Respectfully,

Your 2015-16 SGA Senate

Andres Garcia, Summer Speaker (andresg1@umbc.edu)

Sarah Lilly, Summer Assistant Speaker (slilly1@umbc.edu)

Vanessa Barksdale (vanbark1@umbc.edu)

Seth Benefield (sethbe1@umbc.edu)

William Rice (willia8@umbc.edu)

Augustus Williams (august2@umbc.edu)

Oladipupo Eke (eke1@umbc.edu)

Andrew Lopez (alopez2@umbc.edu)

Joshua Massey (joshua.massey@umbc.edu)

Brooke Perrin (aperrin1@umbc.edu)
Markya Reed (markya1@umbc.edu)