Three Student Government Association executives led an unsuccessful attempt to remove the executive vice president from office.

After the smoke cleared and the votes were counted, Senate decided there was not enough evidence to uphold the impeachment charges against Blake Corley, executive vice president.

The accusations against Corley ranged from sleeping on the job to conduct unbecoming of a Loyola student, and were brought up in what Student Government Association president, Jasmine Barnes, describes as “emergency procedures.”

Barnes along with Mara Steven, SGA chief justice, and Thea Celestine, vice president of programming, leveled the impeachment charges against Corley.

The charges included 17 pieces of evidence, which claim to prove that Corley is “unfit for office.” Steven presented seven counts, Barnes presented six counts, Celestine presented three counts and one count was unsigned.

“This has never been done or attempted before in the recent history that I know of,” Barnes said.

Many senators said they were troubled by the proceedings. While some said there may or may not be grounds for disciplinary action, they raised suspicions about the timing of the charges given that the SGA elections for the fall semester will take place in three weeks.

Barnes said the timing of the charges was unrelated to the upcoming elections, saying she initially intended to bring the charges during the fall semester.

Martin Quintero, SGA senator and political science junior, said he was among the many senators who were angered by the way the claims were presented.

“I don’t know if they thought we were going to rubberstamp this decision, but we thought critically about it,” Quintero said.

Four senators voted in favor of impeaching Corley, but the SGA constitution would have required at least nine affirmative votes to remove him from office.

Corley’s response

Corley said he acknowledges he has made mistakes in the past, but he said he does not believe those mistakes are grounds for impeachment.

For example, one of the specific impeachment charges was the failure to fulfill 10 office hours weekly.

“The only thing that I regret is not posting office hours at my desk,” Corley said. “I would like to make the point that I have office hours – I just have not posted them at my desk. But nothing in the constitution says I have to or how many hours I have to post. The accusation of my violating anything in the constitution is, simply put, a lie.”

SGA failed to hold the impeachment procedures during a regularly scheduled Senate meeting, and instead brought the charges during an emergency hearing during the evening of Friday, Feb. 21. Corley and the senators said they were notified of the proceedings 24 hours before they were scheduled to be held.

Corley said he believed the impeachment charges should have been presented to senators in an open meeting.

“This is the one spot to where students should have full access, full control, full insight and 100 percent voice. I believe that anytime a door is closed, a door is locked, and that a student’s voice can’t be heard; there is an injustice there,” Corley said.

Corley said he believes his accusers have hidden motives.

“This documentation posed against me is undoubtedly politically motivated and frankly sad,” Corley said. “They did not only lie to the senators, but they lied to every single member of the student body.”

Corley described the charges as a political “game.”

“I think this is one of the most politically motivated pieces of paper I have ever seen in my entire life, in my work in politics and in my service to the students of Loyola,” Corley said.

Corley said he has tried without success to contact Barnes.

“I have reached out to President Barnes almost every day since the official procedures has begun,” Corley said. “President Barnes is the most divisive, politically motivated, hateful and biased president this university has ever seen.”

The accusations

Steven said it was her job to ensure that SGA members uphold their duties and that her reasons for presenting charges were not politically inspired.

“It is my job as chief justice to hold people accountable for their responsibilities and make sure that the student body is being represented. And that is the only motive that I had in bringing these charges,” Steven said.

Steven said that while some of the charges may not seem monumental, there comes a point where elected officials must be held accountable.

“Everyone makes mistakes, but there is an allowance for that when you take an oath. There is a maximum to that allowance when you take an oath and are being paid to uphold that oath,” Steven said.

Steven added that every charge against Corley was “corroborated” by what “multiple people” had seen and heard.

“Mr. Corley had an extensive amount of evidence against him,” she said. “We are giving Blake the benefit of the doubt.”

Steven added that bringing charges against Corley was essential because as an officer of the SGA, he had an obligation to be a role model for other students, and she felt that was not the case.

Barnes said she hoped the process would have resulted in Corley’s removal from office, but noted that since the vote failed to pass, she is prepared to move forward with Corley to continue to govern through the end of their elected term.

“At this point, it’s the student body who will be holding him accountable – I’m hoping,” Barnes said.

Celestine declined a request for an interview.

Outside perspective

Butch Oxendine, executive director and founder of the Gainesville, Fla.-based American Student Government Association, said he has some concerns with what he has heard about the impeachment proceedings.

“Someone falling asleep during a meeting is hardly grounds for impeachment,” Oxendine said. “When they are impeaching each other, they are not doing work for students.”

Another area Oxendine said gives him pause is that none of the SGA officials who brought the charges against Corley were present at the hearing.

“If you are going to bringing charges, you need to be there,” Oxendine said. “If nothing else, it seems cowardly,” Oxendine said.

Oxendine also said that holding impeachment preceding’s behind closed doors and at the last minute raises troubling questions.

Eddie Murray, SGA Senator and political science junior, agrees that the absences and timing were troubling.

“I thought a lot of people were throwing rocks and hiding their hands and I don’t respect those types of things,” Murray said.

Steven counters, however, that the 24-hour timeframe for the hearings was adequate notice.

“It’s just the nature of an emergency procedure like that. It’s a quick turn-around thing,” Steven said.

Regardless, Oxendine said he believes all the information surrounding an SGA procedure of this kind should be available to the public and the student body for open scrutiny.

Corley said that he is ready to move on from the attempt at his removal from office so that he can continue to serve the student body.

“I am excited to put this behind me. I’m excited to continue my work for the people who elected me,” Corley said. “And I’m excited to continue my conversation with the student body and my senators and the rest of SGA. Although there are three members of the executive staff who voted to impeach me, I’m ready to get back t
o work.”

Alicia Serrano may be reached at [email protected]

Lucy Dieckhaus may be reached at [email protected]