The consideration of two impeachments sparked debate at Wednesday’s Student Government meeting.
The events unfolded when University Center for Freshman Year Senator Christian Glorioso moved to suspend the rules and insert two bills into new business to impeach University Center for Advising and Counseling Senator Lane Pace and Deputy Chief Justice T. Graham Howell for violating the SG Code of Ethics.
Both bills were signed by nine senators and Speaker Aaron Caffarel. The Senate voted to impeach Howell but not to impeach Pace.
The evening heated up when a group of University Court justices took the floor during Judicial Officer Reports. The group announced that UCourt had voted to throw out a resolution the Senate passed last week because it wasn’t accurately depicted in the meeting’s minutes.
Lindsay Bennett, Senate communications director, explained a senator had moved to suspend the rules and discuss the resolution but Secretary Wendy Gilley mistakenly didn’t include it in the minutes.
UCourt subpoenaed Pace to testify, and he stated the minutes were accurate and the rule suspension hadn’t occurred.
Associate Justice Carlston Mills said the missing minutes conflicted with SG rules of order and as a result, the legislation would be thrown out, and the Senate would have to revamp the resolution.
Many senators still questioned Mills and the other justices about how they came to their conclusion and whether they were authorized to make the ruling. Mills said he thought the questions were meant to incriminate Howell and Pace.
“I see what this is about,” Mills said. “This is bullshit.”
SG President Cody Wells chided the group.
“We have got to better serve the student body,” he said. “This is professional business, and we should not be making it personal.”
Despite Wells’ words, Glorioso moved minutes later to have the Senate reconsider the bill to impeach Pace.
Caffarel announced he would remove his name from both bills, causing each bill to have only nine co-authors and rendering them out of order.
At the end of the meeting, Glorioso reconsidered his stance and moved to withdraw both bills. He then apologized to Pace and Howell for the events that had transpired.
Chief Justice Danielle Rushing said she, Wells and Caffarel will meet with their advisers today to determine how to straighten out communication errors in SG and move the organization forward.
 
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]