Student senators called this week for the impeachment of their vice president.
Sen. Beatrize Martinez (law) formally requested via a Feb. 27 email that discipline charges be brought on Austin Gipson-Black, vice president of Student Senate.
The email followed a Feb. 26 senate meeting wherein senators passed a resolution requesting Gipson-Black’s resignation after accusing him of offenses including verbally assaulting members of the executive cabinet and having sex in the Student Government Association offices. More on the Senate meeting can be found here.
The email addressed the six SGA bylaws Martinez believes Gipson-Black violated: dereliction of duty, violation of the SGA Constitution, breach of faith, misuse of funds, violation of the SGA Code of Conduct, and violation of the Senate’s standing rules.
Martinez urged Student Court to move swiftly to bring charges against Gipson-Black.
Chief Justice Ellen Roth released an official update via email to Student Publications March 2 regarding the disciplinary hearing. The hearing will be at 7:30 p.m. March 5 in a location to be determined.
“This meeting will be closed to the public with the exception of representation from MediaOCU, the SGA Advisors, and a neutral faculty member to serve as scribe,” Roth wrote.
Gipson-Black has been charged with Dereliction of Duty and Violation of the SGA Code of Conduct in regards to his actions at the Feb. 26 Senate meeting. Dereliction of Duty is defined as “willful negligence of the obligations” of a position. This claim comes from what Martinez wrote was Gipson-Black’s inability to remain neutral or exercise the required “guidance, direction or control” during the Feb. 26 Senate meeting.
“He decided to abruptly end the Senate session when discussion was going to take place,” Martinez said.
Sen. David Hall (music) said Gipson-Black made it audibly impossible to stop his call to adjourn the meeting discussing the claims against him. This premature adjournment ended the discussion and left senators unable to resolve the issue, Hall said.
Hall said Gipson-Black told senators during the meeting that he would willingly meet with senators outside of Senate meeting to discuss the situation further, but ending the meeting so abruptly shows that he was not willing to discuss the issue, Hall said.
Sen. Blake Lemmons (at-large senior) said Gipson-Black was following procedure when he ended the meeting.
“In my opinion, all Austin did was use Robert’s rules. People can disagree with the way that he did that all they want, and I understand why they would disagree with it, but he also had to deescalate the situation at that point because people were too emotional, and we weren’t making rational decisions, which is why I seconded the motion,” Lemmons said.
Martinez said SGA members have approached her expressing their fear of Gipson-Black and his power over the student body.
“He has chosen time and time again to ignore his duty and to bully people,” she said. “That’s pretty much what he does. He bullies people.”
Martinez said she wishes the situation didn’t come to this point, but Gipson-Black’s actions have been an ongoing concern.
“Now his actions can’t be hidden because he has affected multiple people. As a senate, we have a duty to make sure people are held accountable for their actions,” she said.
Martinez wrote in her Feb. 27 email that Gipson-Black has attempted to silence those within and outside of student government to preserve his position.
“He has visibly shown his efforts to silence anyone in opposition,” she wrote. “Whether it’s through a ‘firm’ handshake or verbal beratement or following someone in the restroom to end an argument, it is obvious that Vice President Gipson-Black has no end to where he is willing to go when he serves as vice president,” she said.
Martinez also wrote that Gipson-Black is violating the code of conduct through actions including making derogatory remarks during Senate meetings.
Martinez said Gipson-Black is misusing Senate funds because she thinks organizational allotments have not been sent because Gipson-Black has not submitted them to university officials.
“This information, if true, puts SGA in a position where they are not meeting the needs of their constituents,” she said.
Sen. Lemmons said many charges brought up in Martinez’s email shouldn’t be considered by the court because they happened more than 48 hours before the charges were given, which also violates SGA bylaws.
“The court is going to have to interpret that 48-hour rule,” he said. “They’ll determine whether it’s 48 hours from the time people became aware of the chargeable infraction or 48 hours from the time that it happened.
It’s likely Gipson-Black could only be charged on his behavior at the Feb. 26 meeting, Lemmons said.
“This isn’t to say one way or the other that I think he should be charged or shouldn’t be charged, this is just procedurally what would happen,” he said.
Sen. Martinez wrote that she thinks discipline against Gipson-Black is overdue.
“He has been in violation of the SGA Code of Conduct several times throughout his term and has not received a punishment that has remedied the situations. He is without recourse at this point,” she wrote.
Martinez concluded the email by requesting the Student Court move forward with disciplinary action against Gipson-Black.
“Being that multiple instances can be cited for all the various factors that weigh into disciplinary proceedings, the student court is urged to move forward by recommending impeachment,” she wrote.
Gipson-Black responded to his impeachment charges in an email to Student Publications.
“I am not surprised by the lack of diligence and the lack of courage displayed by each member of Senate,” he wrote. “They each let their campus down by refusing to be deliberative, just, and orderly. If the reaction of the senators is the best way they know to handle conflict; if all they know is to attack without understanding; if they continue to become consumed by their own thirst for power and recognition; then may the Lord have mercy on us all, because we can do be.”
Contributing: Editor-in-chief Nicole Waltman
Looks like someone didn’t finish the last word of the ar.
So, the VP refuses to step down from a position of power that seems like nobody wants him in, and yet everyone else is “consumed by their own thirst for power and recognition”? How exactly does that make sense?