SGA president announces resignation, Gibson will be interim president until election
Posted on September 17, 2007
With the threat of another impeachment proceeding looming, Brandon Eickel, Student Government Association president, will announce his resignation at Tuesday’s SGA meeting. Andy Gibson, vice president of administrative affairs, will act as president until a special election is held to choose someone else for the position.
Due to the illegality of the senate’s impeachment proceedings last Tuesday, during which it violated the Virginia Freedom of Information Act by casting a secret ballot, the SGA would have been required to hold a revote. Had procedure been followed correctly, the only opportunity for a revote would have occurred if more information had been brought to light regarding the Eickel case, and a senator who had voted on the winning side, in this case a vote against impeachment, motioned for reconsideration.
Matt Beato, chairman of the student Senate at William and Mary, said that his school faced the same predicament several years ago. After holding a secret ballot vote, the Senate was told that if it did not follow the law and revote during an open election, each senator could have faced fines adding up to $2,500.
In order to elect someone else to office, the speaker of the senate will create an elections committee to review applications for possible candidates. Candidates will have a week to campaign, according to Lee Brooks, internal affairs co-chair. The entire election process should take about a month,
“Everyone is supportive of [Eickel] as a person,” Brooks said. “We are ready to move on.”
Eickel said his resignation was in the best interest of the JMU student body and the SGA.
“It is my hope that this decision will allow the SGA to renew its focus in helping students,” he said.
The SGA Executive Council responded with an official statement, giving its support to Eickel.
“Brandon is a student who has always committed to being a public servant for this university from the day he set foot on campus,” read the statement. “His decision to resign did not come lightly. We honor his choice and we know if was made for the good of the SGA and the student body...We view Brandon as an extraordinary leader and we believe he will continue to be the change on campus without the title as president of the Student Government Association.”
Other senators seemed to agree.
“It was definitely the right thing to do,” Jeff Watson, the senator who first motioned for impeachment, said. “It shows that a mistake was made and that he’s being a leader by stepping down and showing responsibility on his own. Now hopefully the SGA can move forward from all this.”
Watson added that now that the issue is resolved, the SGA won’t get held up in a long trial.
Senator Ilk Ghavami agreed, adding that he thought Eickel’s resignation was both courageous and honorable.
“I think that it’s understandable that he resigned,” he said. “He took the high road for this one.”
While Senator Matt Jones agreed with Watson and Ghavami in that Eickel’s decision was the best one for the university, he also saw a downside.
“The only problem I have is that the SGA doesn’t have a chance to redeem itself,” he said. “We need to look towards repairing our image with students.”
Senator Brian Tynan agreed.
“Ultimately I respect the decision,” he said. “But I feel like if the impeachment proceedings had happened then more facts could have come out about exactly what happened.”
JMU senators are not the only elected officials interested in the outcome of the situation with Eickel. William and Mary has a lot to say as well.
Zach Pilchen is happy that the JMU student body has had their say in the actions of the SGA.
“I’m glad that the community at JMU made a decision,” he said. “It was always Valerie and my hope that the JMU community would decide what to do.”
He added, “It’s always unfortunate in any government when there are things that may seem to distract you from the real order of business which is to serve your constituency.
I’m glad that there seems to be a resolution that has been reached.”
Beato agreed.
“It’s definitely the best scenario,” he said. “From a personal perspective I think he’s done the right thing. There’s no doubt that this is the best decision for everyone involved.”
Students have also provided positive feedback for the resignation. After planning a protest on Tuesday’s Senate meeting, signing a petition for Eickel’s impeachment and creating a Facebook group dedicated to getting him out of office, they too think Eickel made a good choice in resigning.
“I think he should (resign),” sophomore Katie Farwell said, adding that in this case,
“Resigning is noble.”
Junior Tiffany Mink, who created the “Eickel for Impeachment” group on Facebook, disagreed about his motive.
“Nixon did this with the Watergate resignation to avoid a possible impeachment,” she said. “I feel Eickel is only up for removing himself so others cannot do it for him.”
While Eickel officially resigns on Tuesday, Watson has already said that he will probably run for the presidency. He and Ghavami have discussed running together as co-Presidents. As of press time, it had not been decided if this would be allowed by the SGA.
_________
Other pieces you might also be interested in:
9.14.07
The Flat Hat - News, JMU votes no impeachment for plagiarism
The Flat Hat - Opinion, Eickel must resign
9.13.07
The Breeze, News, Motion denied
The Breeze - News, SGA breaks legal procedure
The Breeze - Opinion, House Editorial: The defeat of scholastic virtue
The Breeze - Multimedia, AUDIO: SGA Censure Debate
The Breeze - Multimedia, SLIDESHOW: SGA Meeting
9.10.07
The Breeze - Opinion, SGA president does disservice to university
9.06.07
The Breeze - News, Campaign initiatives not Eickel's own
The Breeze - Opinion, House Editorial: Eickel's Apology
The Flat Hat - News, JMU's student government president takes platform from Pilchen
8.27.07
The Breeze - Opinion, Letters to the editor
About Us | Supplements | Advertising | Contact Us
Website design by Erik Pitzer ('07)
