One of the Student Assembly's former vice presidents told The Dartmouth on Monday that he and other students dissatisfied with the current state of the student government may try to impeach Student Body President Tim Andreadis '07. Former chair of the Assembly's Academic Affairs Committee Adam Shpeen '07 said that he and his group hope to reform the organization, and removing Andreadis may be part of that process.
"I'll tell you this: I know that there are a group of individuals who are extremely disappointed with the direction of SA under Tim's leadership," Shpeen said. "All options of reforming SA are on the table as of now, which does include impeaching him."
A Sunday posting on "The Little Green Blog," a blog written by Andrew Seal '07, alleges that Shpeen was motivated to spearhead an impeachment effort after Andreadis reported to Undergraduate Judicial Affairs that Shpeen had served alcohol to minors in the Assembly's offices in Collis.
"I'm not going to comment publicly on my disciplinary record," Shpeen said.
He also said he was disappointed that the incident was being used to discredit efforts to reform the Assembly.
Seal claimed that Shpeen mobilized his friends to attend the Student Assembly meeting on Jan. 9. Under the Assembly's constitution, once a student has attended three meetings, he or she becomes a voting member of the Assembly and would be able to participate in a possible impeachment vote.
Shpeen resigned from his position in the Assembly at the end of Fall term after expressing dissatisfaction with Andreadis' leadership of the body. He said he is personally dissatisfied with both the Assembly's fundamental structure, as well as with Andreadis' leadership of the organization.
"My general impression is that most students don't like the way that Tim is acting as the President of SA," he said.
Multiple attempts by The Dartmouth to reach Andreadis by phone and e-mail on Monday were unsuccessful.
Seal called the impeachment attempt inappropriate.
"It is improper in the sense that it is taking what is essentially a personal conflict and putting in a position to affect many people outside of Tim and Adam," he said.
Seal said that he was motivated to write the piece because of his belief that an impeachment attempt would affect all students. But since the original posting, he has received negative feedback, some of it personal in nature. He said that both Andreadis and Shpeen have contacted him since the posting was put online.
"Adam expressed his displeasure, and Tim said that what I wrote was correct in its factual nature, as far has he knew," Seal said, adding that he did not intend to harm the reputation of anyone he mentioned in his post.
"I want to say that I do not want to hurt Adam in his future, in his career, anything. It's simply that the nature of this whole incident is such that I feel to inform people, to inform the Dartmouth community of what's going on necessitates that information being divulged," Seal said. "I would like to take it off, to take at least Adam's name out of it, because I know it can be Googled, and you don't want that kind of thing popping up right away, after this is all resolved."
Michael Herman '07 and Russ D'Souza '07 were both mentioned by Seal as members of the reform group. They refused to confirm or deny involvement, but both criticized Andreadis in interviews. Herman said Andreadis has "alienated many veteran SA members" and D'Souza said "Tim's leadership has been particularly poor."
Shpeen said he is uncertain whether an impeachment effort would succeed.
"All I can say is that I know that this group is dedicated and passionate about reforming SA and making changes within the body -- major changes."
In order for an impeachment to take place, two-thirds of the present Assembly members must agree to consider the issue. Three-quarters of the Assembly's present members must then vote in the affirmative for the President's removal.
If Andreadis were to be impeached, Student Body Vice President Jacqueline Loeb '08 would take over as Student Body President.
