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Senate impeaches Aronin, censures Hogan for misconduct in midyear senator amendment

Published: December 6, 2009
Section: Breaking News


The Student Union Senate impeached Student Union Secretary Diana Aronin ’11 and censured Union President Andy Hogan ’11 Sunday night for alleged “violation of the Student Union Constitution,” according to Senate Resolutions F09-3 and -4.

The Senate decided to take action against the two Union office holders when Aronin allegedly failed to introduce a constitutional amendment to the student body. The amendment would have created a Midyear senator position and was proposed last spring by then-Mod Senator Jonathan Freed (GRAD). After the proposal was signed by 10 senators last spring, the Constitution dictates that the Union Secretary should have put it to a vote by the entire student body within 15 academic days of its presentation to Aronin.

The Union Judiciary will hold a trial next semester in order to decide if Aronin will be removed from office.

The charges will be heard through Article 10, Section 2 of the Union Constitution, UJ Chief Justice Judah Marans ’11 said.

Aronin did not call an election, and has indicated that she was looking to include it in with the Constitutional Review Committee’s recommendations. The impeachment of Aronin by the senate indicates that the legislative body believes it was not within the purview of Aronin’s or the President’s office to withhold the vote.

The resolution impeaching Aronin reads “she willfully corrupted and violated the duties set forth to her in the Constitution.” Hogan’s censure maintains that he “broke the trust” of both the Senate and the Union undergraduate body as a whole.

Executive Senator Jenna Rubin ’11 explained the Senate’s actions saying, “we have impeached [Aronin] and censured [Hogan] for not conducting an amendment vote that should have been conducted.”

She also explained that Hogan told her that the misconduct was not entirely Aronin’s fault, but that Hogan had “told her not to” submit the amendment to a referendum vote.

Hogan’s censure will have no effect on his holding the office of President as the Senate voted only to give Hogan an official reprimand, though it still “reserves the right to open impeachment proceedings against [him].”

“The UJ is the ultimate voice on the Constitution, so it will be left to the UJ to decide if and/or what sections of the Constitution were violated by [Aronin] concerning this matter,” Rubin said.

Rubin added that Hogan admitted that he had told Aronin not to submit the amendment to a referendum vote.

Hogan released a statement to the student media Sunday evening saying, “I look forward to working with the Senate to make this right, and working as hard as we can next semester to fight for what students want.”

Rubin first learned about the alleged misconduct when Freed sent her an e-mail asking for updates on the amendment.

“I called him and it sounded like there was something that was supposed to be done but did not get done,” she said.

Rubin recommended the Senate go into executive session to “present all possible options,” which included doing nothing, presenting a public statement, censure and up to full impeachment pertaining to both Aronin and Hogan.

“We had a continued conversation,” Rubin said. “I told [Hogan] that [his] personal opinion doesn’t matter [to amendments] and that he should not have gotten involved.”