A student senator is appealing the decision not to impeach or punish the Student Senate vice president.
Sen. Beatrize Martinez (law) submitted the appeal of the decision not to take action against Vice President Austin Gipson-Black to the OCU Student Court on March 15.
Martinez appealed based on bias and procedural issues, she wrote in the appeal.
Student Court found March 5 that Gipson-Black was not responsible for the impeachment charges brought against him. Gipson-Black was accused of “dereliction of duty,” relating to the Feb. 26 Senate meeting. Senators claimed Gipson-Black was unable to remain neutral or exercise the required “guidance, direction or control” when he ended the meeting abruptly without allowing for objection from senators. Gipson-Black claimed he did nothing wrong and was within the scope of his rights as vice president.
Student Government Association advisers will review and decide a verdict based on the appeal, according the SGA bylaws. Dr. Amy Ayres, vice president for student affairs, will make the final decision. Ayres said Monday that there is not a specific timeline in regard to appeals, but she will review it as soon as she returns from a conference.
“I will make it a priority to review fully upon my return to campus later this week, with the hope of providing a response by the end of this week or early next week at the latest,” she wrote in an email to Student Publications.
The appeal addressed the Student Court’s decision to drop the Code of Conduct charges based on oversight of governing documents.
Martinez wrote that the court used conflicting documents to support dropping the charge. She claimed there was no online version of the Code of Conduct for the court to access, and they received the documents from senators instead.
“A few minutes prior to the hearing, a charge was dropped in which witness testimony and evidence had been prepared,” she wrote.
Evidence was to be collected by 7:30 p.m. March 3, she wrote, and accepting the Code of Conduct as evidence violated that deadline.
“Once the court assumed the charge, and time for evidence had closed, it was reckless for the court to dismiss it without having allowed another hearing separately for the charge,” she wrote.
Martinez said that, in the notice given by Student Court prior to the hearing, they mentioned a neutral faculty member would serve as scribe for the hearing. She said Haley Styles, adviser for Student Activities Council, was present as the scribe instead, which is not a neutral party. Martinez wrote that there is no clear standard for which anyone can be held accountable for their actions because, after hearing Gipson-Black testify to violating his standing rules, the court did not find him responsible for violating his duties.
Corinne Prudente, acting junior, submitted a letter in support of the appeal addressing the issues with the Code of Conduct.
“The Student Court was well aware that the charges against Gipson-Black directly pertained to the SGA Code of Conduct, yet made no attempts to acquire this document. The Student Court’s lack of preparation to rule on this case should not result in the charges being thrown away, as this is a disservice to SGA and to the student body,” she wrote.
Martinez concluded the appeal stating that her recommended punishment for Gipson-Black is written reprimand for violating the standing rules. But, she said she will accept whatever decision is made.
“I trust that whatever happens will be in the best interest of SGA,” Martinez said.
Read more about this ongoing student government issue at MediaOCU.com.
Leave a Reply