Students fail to impeach student body president who voted to confirm Ben Sasse

A resolution to impeach University of Florida (UF) Student Body president Lauren Lemasters over her vote to approve Ben Sasse failed, The Alligator reported.

The resolution was submitted by the Student Senate Change Caucus and accused Lemasters of malfeasance for voting in favor of Sasse’s confirmation, despite multiple student-led protests opposing his appointment.

The Judiciary Committee argued on Nov. 13 that Lemasters, who sits on the Board of Trustees, has the right to vote according to her preference.

[RELATED: WATCH: Radical progressives oppose Sasse nomination for president]

“First Amendment rights are alive and well within our campus,” Lemasters said during a Nov. 8 Senate meeting, according to The Alligator. “There’s a difference between making your voice heard and taking action against or taking away the voices that are different from yours.”

Both Student Body Vice President Daniel Badell and Treasurer Sierra Kantamneni issued public statements against Lemasters’s decision on Instagram. 

Badell wrote that he couldn’t “stand idly by and not speak out when someone [Sasse] who is a threat to the LBGTQ+ community is about to occupy the highest post on campus.” 

While Badell wrote that Lemasters is a “dear friend,” he stated he “condemn[s] her for making a decision that so blindly went against student demands.”

Kantamneni expressed she was “shocked” and “disappointed” in Lemasters’s decision and that Lemasters “failed to reflect” on the student body’s disapproval of Sasse. 

[RELATED: PROF. GIORDANO: Ben Sasse is the right man for the University of Florida]

Campus Reform reported on the protests that erupted on UF’s campus ahead of Sasse’s appointment. 

Nearly 300 students protested Sasse during an October Q&A forum, which prompted the university to adhere to a policy banning indoor protests ahead of the Nov. 1 vote.

Campus Reform has reached out to all relevant parties for comment.