This story was co-reported by Benito Garcia-Garcia, who was an SGA Senate member. Technical assistance was provided by Blair Watts.
SGA President David Rhode pleads his case at his impeachment hearing on Dec. 2. Photo by Blair Watts.
In a heated impeachment hearing on Dec. 2 that started at around 6 p.m. and lasted four hours, President Rhode came out victorious. The required 2/3 Senate vote needed to remove the president from office was not met because 17 out of 33 senators voted to keep Rhode in the office.
Following the WCJ story published before the hearing, the Student Government Association (SGA) decided to be transparent and live stream the hearing on Facebook and reserved 20 seats for the public to join. However, there was a line of students waiting outside the Multipurpose Room. Some had waited for nearly an hour. The Facebook live stream reached audience views of over 7,000.
It was an intense, emotional, confrontational, and, at times, humorous hearing. The audience quite literally had their popcorn ready as they snacked and watched one of the most important SGA meetings to date. Intercultural Affairs had a watch party where the live stream was played on screen for students to watch.
Original articles of impeachment can be read here.
In the report we highlight some of the discussions and discoveries on the various impeachment points in the order we deemed important.
Attending Turning Point conference
During the hearing, Rhode admitted to committing a crime when he attended Turning Point USA (TPUSA) conference in D.C. during the summer 2019. “I attended that conference,” said Rhode. He also admitted that TPUSA provided the funding for him to go to the conference.
Abruptly after Rhode admitted to one of the major allegations in the articles of impeachment, a brief recess was called by WCU Legal Counsel. Once the hearing resumed, Rhode amended his statement claiming he was offered the trip but that he consulted with legal counsel before accepting to go. Legal counsel allegedly requested additional information, which Rhode did not provide and went to the conference regardless. Upon returning from his trip, he learned that it was an illegal action that legal counsel sought remedy for in the form of Rhode paying back the expenses of the trip to the organization. He is yet to repay that.
See video
For SGA Chief of Staff, and one of the authors of the impeachment articles, Patrick Clemons, the fact that he attended this conference is impeachable offense.
“The problem is that he went to the [conference],” Clemons said.
Clemons believes that Rhode attending the conference in itself is unethical regarding Rhode’s duty as SGA president and as a member of the Board of Trustees. Regardless of if he accepted funding from TPUSA.
However, if Rhode received legal-counsel during this time that could’ve violated the impeachment rules and proceedings. Rule three states:
“Right to counsel: There is no right to have counsel for students in SGA Impeachment Hearings as this is not a WCU conduct or disciplinary hearing and instead is a meeting of the SGA Senate.”
The meeting was presided by Mary Ann Lochner. She was appointed by the Dean of Students as the gatekeeper. Her job was to be completely objective and to abide by the SGA constitution and bylaws.
Check the list of rules and proceedings for the impeachment hearing.
Tax evasion and allegation for sexual harassment
In his opening statement, Rhode, in a slideshow presentation titled “The Truth and Fact,” made a case in regards to the articles of impeachment, saying that “by themselves, this is not enough for impeachment.”
He started with the accusations for tax evasion. The receipts showed that he did not break any rules and that in two cases when he got tax exempt status during the campaign that was within the regulations and acceptable.
During the hearing a written statement from the former Elections Committee Chair, Robert Perry, was entered into evidence about Rhode’s campaign finances.
“After reviewing in-depth the previous election’s receipts, one would perceive that there is the possibility of foul play. However, they alone are not sufficient to provide the full warrant for any accusation. Only in conjunction with other, more damning, evidence could one then find true fault. From the receipts alone it seems likely there exists violations, yet they do not tell the whole story. Succinctly, the receipts neither confirm suspicion, nor do they entirely rule it out,” read Parry’s statement. This item of evidence was entered by Clemons.
Rhode also presented a series of letters of recommendation from women that he had a professional relationship in the past. He did this to combat the allegations that he has been sexist towards members on his executive board.
However, Rhode did not have such a relationship with Buchanan who is in a relationship the Chief of Staff, Clemons.
“I believe that it is extremely rude to accuse me of altering Patrick’s opinions through sexual relations … [these accusations] made me feel like a whore,” Buchanan said during her testimony adding Rhode never made a direct apology to her even though he was aware of her feelings.
Rhode claimed that Buchanan and Clemons made up their sexual harassment allegation in order to make their case for impeaching Rhode stronger. “You can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day, it’s still a pig … this is a big pig,” Rhode said referring to the impeachment articles as the pig and the sexual harassment allegations as the lipstick.
The Director of Public Relations and Marketing, Sara Mears, in her testimony said that before the impeachment articles were filed, rumors and allegations were already surrounding Rhode. She said that these rumors did not come from within the SGA Senate or any of the authors of the impeachment articles.
Rhode asked Clemons why he selectively records conversations, implying that he did not record the conversation he had with Perry on which and Clemons responded, “[Perry] didn’t accuse me of exchanging sexual favors.”
During Rhode’s questioning of Clemons, Rhode asked some questions that were not relevant to the articles of impeachment.
Rhode ventured further down the rabbit hole when he asked Clemons: “You have claimed that I am sexist and that I have not shown up to certain events planned by female exec members. Do you know where I was during these events?” Clemons said: “No, you didn’t tell us.” Rhodes asked: “Do you have any evidence of this?” Clemons responded: “No. Because you didn’t tell us.”
Sen. Dylan Rood and Sen. Zachary Daniels, the other authors of the impeachment declined to testify during the hearing.
Senators deliberate over if they will remove David Rhode from office on Dec. 2. Photo by Blair Watts.
In a phone interview with WCJ, Rood commented on the outcome of the hearing, saying, “senators and senate should listen to what the student body has to say – because that is who we are representing.”
Other testimonies
Three other executive members testified: the Director of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, Troi Davis, the Director of Community Engagement, Erica McCurdy, and Sara Mears.
The executive members agreed that at times, they clash with Rhode, but overall their professional relationship with him is pleasant. However, Erica McCurdy said that she felt “overlooked” at times. She also recalled how Rhode had threatened to fire her, something Rhode did not have the power to do. McCurdy said when this happened, her initial thought was, “David Rhode is real power hungry, is he [trying to] do something he didn’t have the power to do?”
Closing statement by Rhode
Rhode went on to talk about the stress that he has been under. He said that he had made multiple Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) visits prior to the hearing, in large part to a WCJ article that was published on Dec. 1. He referred to the article saying, “That’s the kind of stuff that pushes people to the brink. On the edge of a precipice. I was on that edge.” Segueing from this Rhode said, “I love this body, I love my accusers … I love those who persecute me.” Audience members felt he was portraying himself as a martyr.
The hearing closed with a final word from Rhode. “I made a mistake, now it is up to y’all,” Using slides again, Rhode made an emotional plea chronicling the background of his mother and shared a lot about his life growing up. “I would never do anything to intentionally dishonor my family,” Rhode said. “If I am impeached, it is not my end. It is my first attempt at learning.”
Rhode said that when decisions are fueled by emotion, “that leads to the chaos we are experiencing now.” Rhode asked the Senate, while in tears, to not make a decision based on emotion while he was playing on their emotions not to impeach him.
This was Rhode’s third impeachment process. He had one hearing while an SGA senator when he got to keep his job. The second impeachment process was stopped when he resigned and ran for SGA president and won.
During the Deliberation
Rhode declined further comment during this time.
In an interview from Chief Justice Kaitlyn Alston, she said that she didn’t think that the outcome would look good for Rhode regardless of if he is impeached or not. She believed that the authors of the impeachment were “emotionally driven,” but they had the facts to back it up. Alston also felt that the topics covered were repetitive, and more information needed to be discussed.
See Alston’s statement after she approved the motion for impeachment: SGA Chief Justice opinion on impeachment articles
Results
The vote was cast by secret ballot in open session and tallied by gatekeeper Lochner, SGA advisors, and Parliamentarian Jack Stuckey. The final vote came down to 16 senators voted yes for removal, and 17 voted no.
However, the largest tally of the night was the 20 boxes of pizza provided to the Senate during the deliberation period.
After the hearing two senators resigned in protest. See the resignation statements from senators Fiona Buchanan and Benito Garcia-Garcia:
SGA resignation letter Benito Garcia-Garcia
Statement from Senator Fiona Buchanan
WCJ will continue to cover this issue and check out other stories regarding the SGA and it’s president David Rhode impeachment process.
