New evidence boosts effort to impeach Clemson student gov VP
New evidence further corroborates allegations at the core of an effort to impeach Clemson University’s student government vice president.
On October 23, the Clemson Undergraduate Student Government (CUSG) Senate voted 40-18 to hold an impeachment trial for Jaren Stewart, CUSG’s African-American Vice-President.
According to an incident report released by FitsNews, Stewart was accused of “theft, trespassing, strong-arming, intimidation, and sexual harassment” while serving as a Resident-Assistant (RA) during his vice-presidency. Stewart and his supporters, however, claim the impeachment is race-related, describing it as a response to Stewart’s involvement in a Pledge of Allegiance sit-down protest.
Stewart himself has claimed that the impeachment process is a “social lynching,” saying, "They’ve already made up their minds because of this trope of the villainous African-American male. Ultimately, this stems from implicit bias."
[RELATED: Student gov VP calls peeping allegations a ‘social lynching’]
Now, new evidence has come to light in the case according to emails obtained by The Tiger Town Observer, Clemson’s conservative student newspaper.
In a September 19 email to one of the victims of Stewart’s alleged misconduct, Clemson’s Assistant Director of the Office of Community and Ethical Standards (OCES), Michael Steele, stated that the investigation had found Stewart “in violation” of “Trespassing” and “Unauthorized entry” policies.
According to Steele, Stewart was “given a written and verbal reprimand” and a “reflection paper on the incident from a 4th amendment [sic] perspective from OCES,” though he noted that “there may have been additional sanctions or outcomes from Residence Life as well.”
An email sent on August 22 shows that Steele had refused to discuss the outcome of the case with the anonymous victim, citing federal privacy laws.
[RELATED: Racism allegations fail to stop student gov VP’s impeachment]
Stewart has denied any wrongdoing in previous statements to the Anderson Independent Mail. saying, “it’s been completely resolved,” and that “if any of the comments made were actually founded, I wouldn’t be the vice president. I would be removed from office.”
Stewart further claimed that his residence hall floor had an “open-door policy,” meaning that all residents were comfortable with others coming in unannounced to socialize or borrow items.
“I did not step out of my realms of being an RA and being there for my residents,” Stewart stated. “It’s not true. I wouldn’t go out of my way to hurt someone that lives next door to me.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @rMitchellGunter
