Jared Henderson, Student Senate’s Honors Tutorial College senator, has decided to forego resigning after being encouraged to do so because of missed commission meetings.
Henderson has missed all eight of this quarter’s commission meetings, Academic Affairs Commissioner Amrit Saini said.
Saini sent Henderson an email Tuesday night asking for a letter of resignation. Failing to resign results in a reference to the Committee on Conduct and Discipline, which views the case and decides the consequence — possibly an impeachment.
Saini oversees all of Ohio University’s college representatives and sent the letter Monday night to Henderson and College of Business Senator Chelsea Callahan, who also missed more than the two meetings allowed by senate's bylaws, Saini said.
Henderson said he had missed several of the meetings for personal reasons but did not have a reason for every missed meeting.
Spencer Smith, an HTC junior studying English, created an online petition on change.org asking senate to not continue with Henderson’s impeachment process.
“Jared has been nothing but great as a senator for HTC,” Smith said. “He’s represented his constituency very well, and he has spent so much time talking to constituents and HTC students and trying to actually get their voice heard, more so than any senators that I’ve seen.”
The petition had more than 70 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
Some students included comments with their online signatures.
This is ridiculous," OU student Taylor Reinhart wrote. "The reason is because Jared missed a few meetings? Absolutely preposterous. Jared is a great representative and we want to keep him on Senate. We want him to run Senate, but that's another story."
If Henderson resigns, he would be able to seek a senate position again in the future. Being impeached, however, would prohibit him from participating in senate next year.
“There’s nothing happy about what’s happening right now,” Saini said. “But there are too many people who want to represent HTC. It hurts me, but there’s a time to draw the line, and this has to be it.”
Henderson said he is especially concerned that he won’t be able to serve on the committees on which he sits, such as OU President Roderick McDavis’ forming committee to address STAND Against Genocide's request that the university support conflict-free materials.
However, if Henderson were to be impeached, Saini said he would be willing to keep Henderson serving on that committee.
“I feel like I’ve done a really good job as (HTC) senator,” Henderson said. “I talk with constituents on a regular basis. Being impeached, while they might be able to make some sort of case for it — I’ve been doing a pretty good job to represent.”
If Henderson decides to refute his case in the Committee on Conduct and Discipline, he will present to the committee, which is chosen by senate's executive board. If the vote is unanimously for impeachment, he will be removed from office. If the vote is split, Conduct and Discipline will meet privately with the general body to vote, with the consequence decided by a 2/3 majority, Saini said.
In early February, Saini asked previous College of Fine Arts senator Aaron Brown for a resignation letter after he surpassed the allowed absences. He has since resigned, and his position remains vacant.
“I think everybody on senate is a valuable member of the team,” Senate President Kyle Triplett said. “If people are not necessarily fulfilling duties, or things of that nature, sometimes it’s a question of a valuable member, and efficient and effective member — it’s a line you have to cross.”
sj950610@ohiou.edu
