Engineering Council Votes Unanimously to Impeach Senator for Neglecting Duties

The Engineering Student Council voted unanimously Monday night to impeach Amit Bedi, SEAS ’09 and University Senator.

Bedi, who was not present at the meeting, resigned by sending a text message to certain council members which read, “Just tell them that I resign right now.” Bedi was unaware that the vote for his impeachment had just been passed.

Impeachment proceedings were also brought against Rajat Roy, SEAS ’10 and SGA Liaison—who had brought the impeachment proceedings against Bedi—but the council voted against impeachment—11 for, 12 against, and three abstentions.

The impeachment process in ESC begins when a council member proposes the impeachment of a fellow member. The following week, the council votes on the impeachment, which requires a quorum to pass. If the council member is impeached, a committee composed of the vice presidents and two other council members meets to research and present the case to the council at a third meeting. Then the council votes on removing the member from office, which also requires a quorum.

Roy first proposed impeaching Bedi several weeks ago during a closed council meeting.
“I realized that Amit wasn’t going to change,” Roy said. “He wasn’t doing his job.”

This academic year is Bedi’s first as a Senator. According to Roy, Bedi has not attended certain mandatory meetings. In response, Roy sent an e-mail to their fraternity offering rewards for sightings of Bedi.

“I’m offering a bounty of $2 for every sighting and $5 for every sighting with a picture,” Roy wrote. “If you see him at a party and you get a picture I’m offering $20. Without a picture at a party is $10.”

Kim Manis, SEAS ’09 and VP of Student Life, felt Roy’s actions were improper, and proposed his impeachment soon after.

“I was just kind of outraged that he was like spending his time trying to sabotage somebody else on ESC,” Manis said.

“My reason for bringing this up is ethics and just the fact that he was slandering someone on ESC and taking it upon himself to catch Amit,” Manis said in the council meeting, adding that Roy was “not doing his duties as his specific job states.”

Roy apologized for his actions, saying he withdrew the bounty offer soon after sending the e-mail.

In the e-mail, Roy also stated that last year, when he had considered running for Senator, Bedi had spoken to him as a fraternity brother and convinced Roy to abandon his candidacy. Erin Svokos, SEAS ’09 and junior class vice president, expressed concern that Roy was addressing a personal issue publicly.

“It’s obvious from the e-mail and the background information that it was a personal attack,” Svokos said. “You were obviously doing this not for your constituency, but for your own pride.”

Bedi is taking the semester off due to mononucleosis, and whether he is still a SEAS student is a matter of confusion. According to the ESC Constitution, council members must be current SEAS students.

Warren Reed, SEAS ’09 and 2009 class president, said Bedi is “inactive” and has no swipe access to residence halls.

“I know he has been sort of apathetic about his position [as senator],” Reed said.
Sumeet Shah, SEAS ’08 and University senator, expressed concern that Bedi had not been representing both the undergraduate and graduate engineering student bodies. “The fact that that one vote is missing is very alarming and very disappointing,” Shah said.

ESC elections for an unrelated University Senate seat started at midnight and will last until April 10 at 6 p.m. The two candidates for senator are Brian Pan, SEAS ’10, and Rajat Roy.

ivy.chen@columbiaspectator.com