OVERTURNED

At approximately 12:37 a.m. on Mar. 11 in the third floor of the Stern Center, the College's Honor Council found that charges cited against SGA vice president Seaton Brown did not merit impeachment. After a five-hour hearing and two hours of deliberation, the nine presiding members of the council determined that Brown would continue to hold the position of vice president for the remainder of the academic year.

Jennifer Von Der Heiden, Honor Board Chair, said that although the council found that Brown's actions on the Feb. 19 SGA senate meeting to have been of an unprofessional nature, the elasticity of the SGA's bylaws and constitution made it difficult to validate the allegations against Brown.

"We looked a the issue specifically on Feb. 19 [in which] you passed the gavel on. There is no wording in the constitution or bylaws… that says you can or cannot do that," Von Der Heiden said.

The hearing, which was made open to the public, began at 5:30 p.m. at which point both sides presented their opening statements. Brown represented himself, while SGA secretary Peter Neiger represented the two-thirds of the Senate who voted in favor of the impeachment.

Neiger said that Brown had violated his oath of office by neglecting his duties as vice president. According to Neiger, Brown repeatedly brought shame and disgrace to the SGA through his conduct during the Feb. 19 meeting, his use of profanity throughout the year, and by failing to distribute the SGA bylaws, constitution, and how-to-write-a-bill forms to senators.

Brown apologized for his behavior on the Feb. 19 meeting and detailed the events of that evening. He said that past precedent was set for his "passing of the gavel" and that doing so was within his rights as President of the Senate. He also said that although his decorum was unprofessional, he spoke out of passion for the Senate to reconsider the faulty bill.

Brown said that when he stepped down to be a non-voting member of the Senate, he approached freshmen senators William Porter, Kristen McCutcheon and Nicholas Boatwright and gave them the options to leave senate, make more amendments to the bill, or table the bill in question.

Porter said during his testimony that Brown was intimidating when he addressed the three freshmen senators. He also said he felt that Brown was not presenting him with options, but rather phrased demands in an abrasive manner.

"It was not hypothetical, it was imperative," Porter said.

Brown also said that although he had not provided the adequate paperwork to incoming senators, links to those documents could be found on the SGA senators-only website and the election portion of the SGA website, and that physical copies of the bylaws were located in the SGA office.

SGA president Whitney Hinds spoke as witness in favor of the impeachment. She said that she provided Brown with two written warnings as well as numerous verbal warnings in regards to his use of profanity. Most notably she referenced his use of the words "jackass" in a Senate meeting and "hell" during a Faculty Senate meeting.

According to Hinds, this also brought shame and disgrace to the office of the vice president. "I have seen more professional behavior from previous vice presidents," she said.

Brown said that he respected Hinds' warnings and took them into consideration, but he said that he tried to be as funny and friendly as possible in meetings. Brown said that the words were not meant in a malicious manner.

"The word hell, it means nothing to me. One of my bosses says that I speak maritime in addition to English… I swear like a sailor," Brown said.

Senior Phil Paradise, former member of the SGA, was called as an expert witness due to his knowledge of Robert's Rules of Orders. He said that the rules set precedent for the practice of passing the gavel on if the presiding member of Senate felt biased towards a piece of legislation. Since it is stated in the bylaws that the Senate follows Robert's Rules, Paradise argued that Brown was acting within his right as President of the Senate.

He stated that Brown was not acting in an inappropriate manner by participating in debate after stepping down. According to Paradise, the Senate's job is not just to look at a piece of legislation and vote for or against it but also to debate certain points.

Von Der Heiden echoed this in her closing statement. "Everyone in Senate has a responsibility for everything that goes on," she said. "These are all little issues that could have been brought up and addressed solely and on an individual basis."