Student senators at Santa Fe College spent nearly four hours Wednesday debating nearly everything but the impeachment of its Senate president.
The Senate voted 24-22 last week to make Jeremy Pierce’s impeachment possible. But by the time it decided the order of agenda items and addressed questions, there weren’t enough senators remaining in the room to vote on sending Pierce to trial.
Several senators left the room during a second roll call at 7:30 p.m., said Senate Secretary Kelly Cooper, which decreased the number of present members below the minimum 44 required to conduct business.
Without enough members to vote, the decision of whether to send Pierce to trial for violations of Student Government law and the code of ethics was not addressed. The vote will remain on the Senate agenda for its Dec. 3 session.
If the majority had voted for the impeachment, the decision would have been the first step in Pierce facing a trial, said Dalton King, Senate pro tempore.
“We’re just approving the resolution,” King said.
Some members of Senate were confused about the wording of the resolution and the amount of evidence included in its five articles stating allegations against Pierce.
Santa Fe philosophy sophomore Wallace Mazon said the articles of impeachment were legitimate.
“We got it straight off of Clinton’s,” the 20-year-old said, referencing President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings.
But before the Senate could stop answering questions and instead move to discussion — after which the trial vote would have taken place — senators debated about the amount of time each person could have to speak on the issue.
“This is an important matter,” a senator said. “I move to give anyone unlimited speaking time.”
Sen. Bailey Erickson, a Santa Fe dual-enrolled freshman, instead made a movement to create a four-minute speech limit but still allow unlimited speeches.
“I agree that this is a sensitive subject, but we’ll be here all night,” the 17-year-old said. “I think four minutes will give everyone ample speaking time, and I hope we’re all mature enough not to beat a dead horse.”
Pierce objected and then asked for an uninterrupted 10 minutes to defend himself.
“I find that to be pretty reasonable,” he said. “You’re going to give me just four minutes to defend myself?”
But Santa Fe criminal justice sophomore Sen. Benjamin Myers, 19, said that was unnecessary.
“There’s a place and time for the defense,” said Myers, the Student Body internal affairs director. “That’s called trial.”
But some senators rebutted, suggesting he deserved extra speaking time. Others requested to see the evidence stacked against Pierce. However, the information will not be released until the would-be trial because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
“We don’t want to wait for the trial to go through all the evidence — I certainly brought mine,” Pierce said, referring to the 200 documents he said he brought to prove his innocence.
After the meeting, Pierce said Wednesday’s debate was vigorous but ensured everything was true, fair and transparent.
“I’m certainly glad to keep my gavel,” Pierce said. “Even for two more weeks.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 11/20/2014]
From left, SFC SG parliamentarian Andy Alvarez, Student Senate President Jeremy Pierce, Senate Pro Tempore Dalton King and Senate Secretary Kelly Cooper preside over Pierce’s impeachment along with other issues, at the SFC Student Senate meeting Wednesday.
