A message from BSG President, Daniel Mejia-Cruz ’16:
Dear Students,
I would first like to thank everyone who attended this past Wednesday’s meeting of the General Assembly. The comments made were respectful and civil, and such discourse is essential for our community to move forward.
As you know, these comments were made in relation to the introduction of articles of impeachment against two members of Bowdoin Student Government. In the wake these events, I have turned to the Constitution and the By-Laws for guidance. This is the direction that the By-Laws provide:
Article I, F, ii, b: The subject of an impeachment proceeding has every right to remain in the room during the entirety of their impeachment proceeding, including Executive Session.
Article I, F, vii: All impeachment proceedings (excepting the final vote) should take place during Executive Session in order to protect the Assembly from being sued for defamation. If the subject of an impeachment proceeding waives their right to sue for defamation, the proceeding may take place outside of Executive Session.
Article VIII, F, iii: Any individual misrepresenting their ability to enter into contracts on behalf of the Bowdoin Student Government will be subject to impeachment and dismissal and such contractual obligations will be their sole responsibility.
As President, it is my duty to interpret the Constitution and the By-Laws of BSG. My interpretation is that the By-Laws do not make clear the process by which impeachment must be conducted.
In order to be fair, it is necessary that BSG outline a more clear process. In the past few days, BSG has been committed to this effort. This process, however, should be carefully established.
With this in mind, I have decided to postpone impeachment proceedings until a process can be fully defined and codified in the By-Laws. The pending articles of impeachment remain valid, but their review will be conducted after the impeachment process is included in the By-Laws.
On Wednesday, 9 March 2016, a proposal will be introduced in the Assembly to include a formal impeachment process in the By-Laws. This proposal will be considered, debated, and voted on by the Assembly. I have attached a copy of the proposal to this email, and encourage you to review it and offer any thoughts you might have at next Wednesday’s meeting, during public comment time.
Finally, we should acknowledge that the issues we face are exceptionally difficult and call for extraordinary efforts. Bowdoin Student Government is committed to these efforts and does not take them lightly. We will proceed thoughtfully and with the utmost care.
Thank you,
Daniel Mejia-Cruz
President of Bowdoin Student Government
View the Revised Proceedings here.