Student Body President Cody Boyer is here to stay.
Boyer’s position as president has been in jeopardy since Aug. 9, when a memo of impeachment was filed against him, accusing him of 17 charges, including improperly hiring students, transferring his constitutional duties to other student government members and taking an SG laptop for his personal use. Fifteen of the 17 charges were sent to the Student Government Supreme Court for review.
But on Wednesday, the Court dismissed Boyer’s case, refusing to hear it.
The Court took issue with the actions of the Senate Impeachment Committee, as well as the way the case was handled in the senate.
The final judgment of impeachment, a document submitted by the SG Supreme Court, concludes with criticism toward members of student government.
“The Supreme Court hereby finds themselves disappointed in the actions of student government against President Cody Boyer,” the judgment says. The Court criticized members of SG for resorting to impeachment before first communicating and working out disagreements, and accused the organization of focusing on conflict, not the student body.
“I feel unbelievable,” Boyer said in an interview with The Crow’s Nest. “You wouldn’t believe how I feel.”
Boyer said the impeachment process displayed how he reacts to conflict and how he handles himself under pressure. He believes he handled the situation well.
Boyer can once again nominate people to committees and positions within SG. His ability to do so has been frozen since the impeachment proceedings began, which included his inability to hire a vice president.
The judgment shocked Attorney General Melanie Mercado, who submitted the memo of impeachment.
“I’ve lost my expression; I’ve lost my freedom of speech,” she told The Crow’s Nest.
Mercado interprets her role in SG as keeping the organization accountable, and she is disappointed that the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
“I feel like they took my job from me,” she said.
Mercado said the structure of SG is unlike the real world because she is unable to appeal to another court.
She also criticized SG for its lack of transparency, and said she didn’t feel that the impeachment proceedings took away from serving the students. Rather, it addressed problems within the organization.
“Conflict can be a good thing,” Mercado said. “It’s about finding resolution.”
She thinks unresolved conflict and division within SG will keep them from being productive under Boyer’s administration.
Boyer said that SG will get on the right track by rebuilding both working relationships and new staff members. Students will run for senate soon, and he hopes to keep all the members of SG working together.
He said that leaders of the SG branches work well together and he would like to see that culture spread into the rest of the organization.
Boyer believes the student body still has trust in him, but he hopes to also create the right perception among SG.
“I think there wasn’t a very high approval rating of the memo among the student body,” he said.
The Court also ruled that the current impeachment procedures were unconstitutional. The bill spelling them out was written and voted on unanimously by the senate this summer.
Senator Carly Chaput, the author of the bill, said that the bill’s intent was to smooth out the impeachment process. The last impeachment process, involving three Supreme Court justices, ended after three semesters when a justice graduated. The Senate Impeachment Committee never met because they could not find a non-student advisor to attend the meetings, which was required in the old impeachment process.
The bill approved this summer removed the requirement for a non-student advisor and also changed the impeachment committee’s role. Rather than doing an in-depth investigation, the impeachment committee just needed to decide if the charges were worthy of a trial.
In the final judgment of impeachment, the Court denounced this method of investigation and declared the bill unconstitutional.
“This hereby allows for allegations to come before the Supreme Court, rather than validated charges,” the final judgment of impeachment says. “This means of procedure shall not be allowed.”
Chaput said that the court’s decision surprises her because it passed so easily through the senate.
“I think it comes from a difference of opinion on how the impeachment should occur,” Chaput said.
