The University of South Carolina’s student senate adjourned completely following special orders after Articles of Impeachment were filed against Student Government executive members and 34 student senators.
The Articles of Impeachment, put forth by Senators Donnie Lapsley and Jacob Whisenant, were filed on Wednesday Aug. 20, the day of the first student senate meeting of the school year.
Charges against President Courtney Tkacs and Vice President Jordan Richardson
According to the grounds of impeachment in the articles, the charges against Tkacs and Richardson include deceptive campaigning practices and election fraud.
The deceptive campaigning grounds relate to a campaign violation case against the Tkacs-Richardson campaign brought forth during the Student Government elections in February. The Constitutional Council found sufficient evidence of a campaign violation during the elections. According to the articles, the Tkacs-Richardson campaign used a social media account to build a supporter base prior to the campaign's start.
The charges regarding election fraud are related to the campaign's dissemination of defamatory allegations against political opponents during the campaign period, damaging an opposing campaign, and influencing the outcome of the election, according to the articles.
Charges against Speaker of the Senate Maura Hamilton
The grounds for impeachment against Hamilton include abuse of office and election interference, tampering with official records, enabling unauthorized executive actions, neglect of administrative duties and suppression of senatorial speech.
Hamilton is accused of altering the Senate's public records and abusing authority over communication channels.
Hamilton is also accused of starting an audit of a student organization without authorization, releasing documents late, and cutting down a campaign banner.
Charges against Treasurer Ashley Reynolds
The grounds for impeachment against Reynolds include abuse of authority and unauthorized policy creation, breach of fiscal transparency and oversight, subversion of codified law, unauthorized and targeted audits and dishonesty in official conduct.
Reynolds is accused of introducing new criteria for funding eligibility without debate as well as withholding information from the public and members of the Finance Committee.
Reynolds is also accused of bypassing guidelines in the Student Government Codes, initiating an audit of student organizations without vote or authorization and dishonesty with university leadership and administration.
Next steps
Official charges have not been filed by the Court of Impeachment. According to the Student Government codes, the chief justice of the Constitutional Council must call the Court of Impeachment to order within 10 days of the articles being made publicly available.
The grounds for impeachment concerning the other 34 Senators include negligence in providing funding for the student organization Jesse Pinkman Conglomerate. The articles claim that the club requested funding with “false and misleading information.” It also claimed that Senator Brooke Walker should have abstained from the vote due to her affiliation with the organization.
No members of Student Government are speaking to the media at this time.
Senators Lapsley and Whisenant did not respond when asked for a comment.