As a Student Assembly class representative who thinks the Assembly is not pursuing worthwhile initiatives and who probably disagrees with Assembly President Tim Andreadis '07 on most issues, personal and political, I do not believe there is good reason to impeach him. An examination of the Assembly Constitution and an understanding of the nature of the Assembly in operation leads to the conclusion that efforts toward impeachment are misguided.
First, upon reading the Assembly Constitution, as far as I can see, our president has fulfilled all the duties of his office. Andreadis has chaired General Assembly meetings and the Executive Committee, set the Assembly agenda and been a voice for the Assembly on campus. Short of failing to fulfill these duties, I don't know what grounds we have to impeach him. Certainly an Assembly member should be held to constitutional standards but I hardly see any of Andreadis' actions as constituting the Dartmouth equivalent of high crimes or misdemeanors.
Procedure dictates a three-quarters vote of General Assembly to remove, an even higher standard than even the U.S. Constitution requires. Numbers aside, the question remains whether there is good reason to impeach. As in real-life politics, it is one thing for partisan fools to impeach Clinton or clamor that Bush is the worst president ever, but it is quite another to have sound, much less Constitutional reason, behind their charges.
The second principle that leads me to oppose impeachment or abolishment is an understanding of how the Assembly functions as a body. It is a profoundly individualistic institution founded on projects developed in standing committees (like Student Services or Academic Affairs) and implemented by small groups or individuals. The General Assembly, which Andreadis leads, is a voting body, not a policy maker.
Andreadis is doing, and not doing, exactly what people elected him to do. He ran on a platform based on sexual assault awareness and cutting the Assembly's budget. Certainly his much-touted sexual awareness initiative has stalled but I don't know how high expectations were for student government to stop an issue that the federal government cannot even stop, though even the realistic goal of raising awareness has gone mostly unfulfilled.
I see the Assembly as more effective and enjoying more support when they focus limited resources on tangible initiatives like the College Readership Program and the course guide, an invaluable resource to students selecting classes. When the Assembly tackles issues like reform of The Dartmouth that are outside the jurisdiction of the body and consequently achieve nothing, claims of the Assembly's ineffectiveness resonate with students.
Disagreement with these goals or programs should not lead to impeachment of Andreadis but to greater involvement by the disaffected parties. I do not believe the group faces an institutional or personal crisis, but one of ideas.
Yet I understand the criticism being leveled because of the important role the Assembly can potentially play on campus and the dereliction of these legitimate duties. Former Academic Affairs Chair Adam Shpeen '07 is a very well-respected member of the Assembly who has a unmatched record of implementing substantive projects, from Committee on Standards reform to expanding the non-recording option.
I believe his reform efforts stem from genuine concern for the Dartmouth student body, and that alone. Real reform is definitely a valid goal but I think that reform would be best undertaken not by flooding the Assembly with votes to impeach, but through committed students with ideas to improve campus.
I do believe that this movement can lead to positive outcomes, as indeed it already has. The Assembly has higher attendance and more interest than ever before. Visions for the Assembly are being debated and competition of ideas is taking hold. My hope is that whatever specific vote outcome is reached, it is not simply a matter of abolishment or impeachment. Whoever is the president, I hope that some of the good ideas and goals emerging in all this debate are actually put into effect.
