Tribunal decision pending for EVP-elect

To impeach or not to impeach. That is now the question.

Despite saying impeachment accusations against former Executive Vice President Marshalee Ducille are warranted, the Student Union Tribunal is unsure if the charges can be enforced because Ducille resigned her position last Friday.

Union President Jennifer Sutherland formally accepted Ducille’s resignation at last night’s Senate meeting.

School of Education senator Kyle Tobiason brought charges against Ducille, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, on April 10. To avoid impeachment, which would force Ducille to vacate her seat as EVP on the incoming Executive Board, she sent her resignation last Friday to Sutherland.

However, the Tribunal — the Union’s judicial board — unanimously found the allegations against Ducille to be warranted, according to Tribunal member Luke Donaher.

But one question remains: does the impeachment deem Ducille ineligible as EVP-elect?

The answer is still unclear, Donaher said, acknowledging ambiguity in the Union’s Constitution.

“Since she’s not in office, she can’t be impeached,” Donaher said. “Since she is an E-board-elect, she can be impeached. It’s the largest gray area in the Constitution.”

Donaher said the Tribunal has made a decision, but will not release it until conferring with adviser Allen Ward, studying precedent-setting decisions and studying the Union Constitution. Ward is the only person who can veto the Tribunal decision, which will be announced next week.

“Our investigation is not about the writ,” Donaher said. “It’s about the consequences.”

According to Ducille, the impeachment threat is unfounded and can not be executed. Since she is no longer EVP, she said, impeachment is not an option.

“My father, who is a lawyer, said any pre-law student will tell you that you cannot take a person out of a position they do not hold,” Ducille said. “You simply can’t kick someone out of an office that they no longer occupy.”

Ducille criticized the Union for being “trivial,” and, once again, not focusing on the students. She said the Union’s final weeks should be used to complete work on student issues.

“I think the Union should spend as much time talking with student leaders as they do impeaching student leaders,” she said.

Although impeachment is possible, Ducille said she is not apprehensive about the impending decision.

“I am not afraid,” she said. “I don’t fear people. And I certainly don’t fear my peers.

“This is something that is happening two weeks before I take office. I am absolutely ecstatic about serving on the E-board next year, and there is nothing that Kyle or [Senate chair] Sarah Abbott can do if that’s what I’ve been called to do.”

The writ accused Ducille of ineffectively communicating with the Union and failing to regularly attend E-board and Senate meetings. However, she said she did work with student leaders of varying student groups.

“I think the misconception was that I wasn’t doing anything when I didn’t go to the Union meeting,” she said. “I replaced the meeting by attending other student organizations’ meetings. I truly enjoy endorsing the student body.”

Attending a basketball game or other student group’s meetings should be a focus of the Union, Ducille said.

“I found that the Union, like a lot of student leaders, talked about the issues without actually doing anything,” she said.

Incoming E-board President Mike Moffo said despite the accusations against Ducille, he will continue to defend her and refuses to search for a new EVP.

“I support Marsha as a friend, and as someone who I have worked with this past month,” Moffo said. “I don’t feel the need to put any thought into nominating another person. I don’t anticipate that happening.”