The speaker pro tempore and a senator from the 117th student senate resigned on Aug. 26.
Senator Donnie Lapsley and Speaker Pro Tempore Sy’Mone Miles submitted letters of resignation effective immediately. Lapsley filed Articles of Impeachment alongside Senator Jacob Whisenant against all Student Government executive members and 34 senators on Aug. 20.
In their letters of resignation, Lapsley and Miles both accused Student Government of discriminatory behavior, including racism and bullying. The Daily Gamecock has not been able to confirm these claims.
Miles claimed Student Government harbors bullying and racism and did not allow her to fulfill her position as speaker pro tempore, according to her letter of resignation. She also claimed that she was left in the dark and not notified about the recent transfer of power between her and Speaker of the Student Senate Maura Hamilton.
According to her resignation letter, Miles claimed she was supposed to assume the role of speaker of the student senate after the Articles of Impeachment were filed against Hamilton. However, Hamilton resumed her role as speaker and did not inform Miles of what was happening, according to the letter. The Daily Gamecock has not been able to confirm these claims.
Lapsley’s resignation letter cited the Student Government code 2-9-60(D): “If impeachment charges are brought against the Speaker of the Student Senate, the speaker pro tempore of the student senate shall discharge the duties and powers of the speaker of the student senate for the duration of the impeachment process.”
Lapsley claimed in his letter of resignation that Hamilton's alleged treatment of Miles was due to racism.
“I have no shadow of a doubt that the sitting 117th Student body speaker is raciest and the University of South Carolina will support the Speaker's decision which proves their complicity in institutionalized racism.”
The Daily Gamecock has found no evidence to support the claims made by Lapsley.
The Daily Gamecock reached out to Hamilton for comment on these claims made by Miles and Lapsley.
“The entire content of both of those letters is demonstrably false and, in numerous instances, per se defamatory," according to a statement from Hamilton. "In particular, the statements by Mr. Lapsley that I violated any law in the course of my duties as Speaker, am a “raciest” [sic], and a “criminal” are false and defamatory and stated with malicious intent and if the Daily Gamecock should choose to boost the profile of these malicious statements through publication, it will do so with knowledge of their falsity and all legal rights, remedies, and actions for damages available to me with respect to such publication will be vigorously pursued.”
The Daily Gamecock also spoke to six senators, all of whom said they are unaware of the claims.
Miles said she reached out to Dean of Students and Deputy Title IX Director Marc Shook about her concerns. Lapsley did not confirm if he had filed any Title IX claims when asked by The Daily Gamecock.
Student senate legislation
USC’s student senate adopted three pieces of legislation at its meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 27, including a bill sponsored by the Finance Committee to implement guidelines for funding allocation.
The new guidelines come as a result of a smaller budget for the 2025-26 school year. Student Government will accumulate $185,000, while $120,000 will be given to a new board called the Student Organization Funding Assistance Board (SOFAB).
The approval of these guidelines will implement a new rubric system to grant funding requests. Student organizations will receive points for meeting certain criteria and will be granted certain percentages of funding based on the point totals.
Student engagement promotion
A bill to promote student engagement, sponsored by Senators Whisenant and Jackson Matthews, also passed. The bill aims to enable student organizations to fund and hold events at the start of the academic year by setting a deadline for requests.
“It just makes the deadline for these types of requests, and basically says you can request money from the first day of class until 10 university days after the first treasurer’s workshop,” Matthews said.
Matthews said there has always been an awkward gap at the beginning of the fall semester, where events can’t be funded because there hasn’t been a treasurer’s workshop yet. This legislation will allow Student Government to look at events during that early period.
Revisions to the Freshman Council selection process
A bill to revise the selection process for freshman council, sponsored by Chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee Kiki D’Apolito, also passed.
Freshman council can choose to either interview 50 applicants or 50% of its applicants. It already had around 105 applicants a few weeks ago and is projected to have around or over 200, D'Apolito said. D'Apolito also said interviewing 50% of a large applicant pool could be a lot for freshman council directors or unproductive.
“This bill still gives limits to ‘Froco’ (freshman council) directors for interviews,” D’Apolito said. “It just leaves the amount of interviews up to their discretion.”
New position nominations and upcoming meeting dates
Senator Daniel Violette was elected as the new speaker pro tempore.
Gracie Campbell was also sworn in as the associate justice of the Constitutional Council.
The Court of Impeachment will meet on Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. in Russell House 322.
The next meeting of the 117th student senate will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 5:30 p.m. in the Russell House Theater. All are welcome to attend the meeting.