by Joe Harris
senior editor

For the second Student Government Association meeting in a row, a quorum was called, and for the second time in a row, there were not enough present to answer.

The quorum was called by Steve Wolfe, the SGA acting president, during his officer report. Wolfe said he called the quorum for fear of possible legal challenges to the meeting's decisions.

"We have a court with issues coming up, including a possible impeachment," Wolfe said, "and if we don't have a court that's legally represented, I'm afraid there might be some legal challenges on the court."

When the quorum was counted, there were 40 voting representatives present; 46 are needed for a quorum.

The lack of a quorum forced two resolutions on the meeting's agenda to be tabled. One was the election of the seven Student Court justices, and the other was a resolution containing articles of impeachment for SGA's president, Darwin Butler.

D. Mike Bauer, SGA chair, said the SGA's executive committee will take a more active role since the quorums have not been made.

"The executive committee can't act in place of the assembly . . . but things like the student court, while it's a pretty important thing . . . has to be done right away, and I would imagine that would be taken care of in the next executive committee meeting," Bauer said.

The SGA's executive committee consists of the president, vice-president, comptroller, assembly chair, and the chairs of all the standing committees.

Bauer said he is tired of the lack of attendance at SGA meetings. He said student organizations are sending representatives to SGA meetings for the wrong reason.

"This is two meetings in a row now where we've called a quorum and haven't had one," Bauer said. "It's pathetic that organizations are sending representatives who are only there for their money."

SGA bylaws state that any organization funded by Student Activities would lose its funding if its representatives miss more than three SGA meetings. Bauer said organizations are sending different representatives to each meeting and are not filling out their change of officer forms. By sending representatives without filling out the form, organizations are getting attendance credit but their representatives are unable to vote which leads to the lack of a quorum.

Josh Stegeman, an SGA representative, introduced the articles of impeachment for SGA President Darwin Butler. Butler is currently in the St. Louis County Jail due to a work release violation.

Since their was no quorum, the articles could not be voted on. Instead, Stegeman introduced them, explained their importance, and told representatives where they and their constituents can sign the petition.

"Students should encourage everyone in their classes and organizations to go to Room 267 University Center and sign the impeachment petition in that office," Stegeman said. "Students should sign the copy for students only (this should be designated at the top of the copy), but student representatives may sign both copies."

Stegeman said the goal is to obtain either 700 student signatures on the student copy or 70 student-representative signatures on the representative copy. The SGA constitution states that in order for impeachment to begin, either 5 percent of the student population or two-thirds of the SGA representatives must sign the petition. Those numbers reflect those percentages.

Stegeman said he hopes to have enough signatures to be able to present the petition at the next SGA meeting on Dec. 2.

Stegeman said an earlier petition started by Aaron Farmer will be attached to the new petition. Students who signed the previous petition should not sign the new one.

"Impeachment is necessary because our president has been incarcerated for over a month now," Stegeman said. "This means he has had virtually no contact with anyone on campus, much less the ability to perform any of his duties or attend any of the meetings to sufficiently represent the student body."

Stegeman submitted two articles of impeachment against Butler. Article I stated a violation of Article II, section 1, clause B in the SGA constitution which describes the president's overall responsibilities.

Stegeman presented as evidence of this violation Butler's repeated absences at SGA-related meetings and Butler's failure to provide notes or an agenda for the missed meetings so his vice-president could properly and adequately serve in his place.

Article II stated a violation by Butler of the Standard of Conduct outlined in the Student Organization Survival manual. Stegeman wrote that Butler's criminal activity is a violation of the Standard of Conduct.

The specific articles of impeachment are located with the petitions in room 267 University Center.

"Butler's absence from the campus and the SGA office is a disgrace to our student body and UMSL," Stegeman said. "The worst aspect is that he is absent because he's in jail, not because of some other problem. He is tarnishing UMSL's reputation of the students by not resigning his post and admitting he cannot serve as the SGA president in the position's fullest capacities."