APPENDED
The Engineering Student Council, in the second of a two-part series of closed-door meetings, voted Monday night to impeach University Senator Rajat Roy, SEAS ’10. They will decide next week whether or not Roy will remain on the council.
The charges leveled against Roy included what outgoing ESC President Peter Valeiras, SEAS ’09, said in a statement was Roy’s “negligence in fulfilling his responsibilities as outlined in the constitution.”
Valeiras’ statement explains that the decision to begin the impeachment process was reached by the council after a number of meetings between Roy and the executive board. The board “sought an improvement in communication between Rajat and the council,” but found that their expectations were not met. This, “along with other issues,” resulted in the motion to begin the impeachment process.
A few of Roy’s fellow University Senators planned to attend the meeting to speak on behalf of Roy’s good work on the Senate. But they were barred from the meeting. Valeiras defends this decision in his statement, contending that “there was no need for the Senate to speak on his behalf because we were not questioning his accomplishments within the Senate, but rather his methods and relationship to the ESC.” Valeiras closed the statement by including that the council “did allow a faculty member who chairs one of the Senate committees that Rajat serves on to speak on his behalf.”
University Senator Billy Freeland, CC’09, wrote in an e-mail that he was not told the grounds on which Roy was being impeached, nor was Freeland allowed in the meeting.
Freeland added that he was disappointed he could not speak on Roy’s behalf to the ESC. As a newcomer to the Senate, Freeland said he found the learning curve to be steep, but that Roy had been a “helpful” resource. Freeland recounted how Roy was with him every step of the way as he passed a resolution through the Student Affairs Caucus on Friday that would give students information about courses further in advance.
“That’s what it is like to work with him on Senate—he knows how it operates, he knows how to get things done, and he’s always willing to lend a hand to his colleagues,” Freeland wrote. “In our committee meetings, Rajat is always one of the most active, thoughtful, and effective Senators.”
Roy and several of his other colleagues on the senate could not be reached for comment.
UPDATE: Roy said in an e-mail Wednesday morning that he was not given a list of reasons for his impeachment until 11 AM Monday, which was the day of the hearing and, he said, about 10 hours before the discussion. Roy claims that Valeiras promised him an e-mail on April 21 of the reasons, but then never received one. According to the ESC constitution, Roy said, he was supposed to be given one week's notice.
An earlier version of this article stated that Roy will not be removed from council. In fact, this decision has not been made yet. Spectator regrets the error.
Comments
We're looking for comments that are interesting and substantial. If your comments are excessively self-promotional or obnoxious you will be banned from commenting. Consult the comment FAQ and legal terms.