Student Senate did not meet quorum Wednesday because commissioners organized a sit-out outside the meeting room to express their emotions against the recently removed and reinstated Vice President Isaac Davis following a report by The New Political, or TNP, published Wednesday about Davis’ removal and reinstatement.
Organizers of the sit-out also wanted it to spark conversation about issues reported in the article. The article includes quotes from anonymous student senators who reportedly told TNP the reasons behind VP Davis’ removal, including alleged sexual misconduct and delegating his tasks to other senate members, increasing their workloads.
The senators used as sources within the article are quoted anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject matter and to protect them from any harm, according to the editor’s note.
Due to the sit-out, senate did not have enough voting members in attendance Wednesday and postponed voting on new resolutions until their next meeting.
Dan Gordillo, governmental affairs commissioner, was quoted in the article without anonymity, helped organize the sit-out and gave a statement about why the demonstration was done.
“The sit-out was organized to demonstrate our emotions against the Vice President,” Gordillo said from a written statement. “The folks out here chose to join this demonstration because of the recent TNP article. The article spoke about misconduct in a gross way. Therefore, we came together to make the statement. We hope that this demonstration sparks discussions surrounding the issues outlined in the article.”
Gordillo and other Student Senate members refused to comment beyond the written statement.
Gordillo spoke out at the senate meeting in which Davis was reinstated as VP the week following his removal. At the meeting, Student Senate President Megan Handle said Davis was reinstated due to irregularities with the vote of no confidence held by the senate the week prior.
Gordillo said he was vehemently opposed to Davis’ reinstallation and called on Davis to release his performance evaluations from each semester this year to show that the majority of senate did not have confidence in Davis as their vice president.
The article published by TNP also mentions these evaluations, with the senators quoted stating that although Davis’ evaluations were awful, he did not change his behavior until after being removed from his position.
TNP also reported that senate advisors including Dean of Student Kathy Fahl and Graduate Assistant Luvina Cooley, received an email from a lawyer, Peter Pattakos, who said he is going to represent Davis in regard to recent defamatory statements against him.
Senate’s judicial panel has an open investigation regarding the irregularity of the vote of no confidence and the allegations made against Davis.
Davis currently holds the position of vice president since his reinstatement Feb. 28, and has officially announced his intention to run for student senate president for the 2024-25 academic year.
