By Christina Smith
“Be it resolved, by the Student Government Association that Senator Robin Doublebower shall be impeached,” reads the SGA resolution from an executive session Tuesday, Feb. 9 – obtained by The Chronicle from an anonymous source.
The resolution – written by the Rules Committee following an investigation of Doublebower’s use of SGA vans – alleged non-compliance with Office of Student Leadership and Activities (OSLA) General Van Information packet.
The resolution outlines general van usage rules as follows: That in an oath of office, SGA senators pledge to uphold the Constitution, By-laws, and Policiy Series of the SGA; that the OSLA General Van Usage packet states that groups may use vans for University related business only and must also complete and submit all paperwork; that the OSLA Request Application/Driver Information states that misuse of vans or violations may result in possible sanctions and suspension; and finally, that Doublebower did not submit the required paperwork to OSLA and that she also admitted to SGA Vice President Jared Berry that she used the vans for purposes she did not state on the van key sign out sheet.
However, according to Doublebower, the clauses which indicate she did not fill out proper paperwork are incorrect. “That information is false because OSLA never gave me the forms to fill out,” Doublebower said. Kim Rhyan, Assistant Director of OSLA who is also in charge of van procedures and operations, confirmed that Doublebower had in fact filled out the proper paperwork, but that she was unsure of the exact logistics of how Doublebower used the vans. In an effort to obtain van usage documents, Rhyan said that she was not able to release them or speak further on the situation.
About one week prior to the charges, Doublebower said she signed out an SGA van to go to a meeting for the College Democrats. Later that night, due to inclement weather, she did not return the van and drop the key in the after-hours box attached to the OSLA office.
Instead, she parked the van in her near-by off campus driveway. Early the next morning, she received a call from her new boss requesting that she be in Wantagh, NY, within 20 minutes or she would be fired. Without the ability of taking a bus and making it there on time, an expensive cab fare, and with the SGA van parked in her driveway, according to Doublebower, her decision was to use the SGA van for transportation or lose her job.
Following her 5-hour work shift, where the van remained outside the bar where she is employed, Doublebower filled the van’s gas tank and returned it to the van parking lot. Because each mile traveled in a van does not need to be precisely recorded, she did not have to account for the extra miles. According to Doublebower, she recorded that she would initially drive 40 miles on the van, and ended up driving about 51.
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When asked if she had ever misused the vans prior to this incident, Doublebower said that she had previously used the SGA vans, in the College Democrats’ name, once to move a friend’s television and another time to grocery shop. According to Doublebower, she filled out the paperwork, used the Democrats’ name and everything was fine. She added that her actions were in no way “nefarious” and that she only repeated these actions because she was under the impression from OSLA that what she was doing was okay.
Doublebower said that she knew that what she was doing was not “technically” okay, but did not question anything because OSLA was aware of her intentions with the vans.
“I broke the rules,” Doublebower said, “and if you want to impeach me because I broke the rules, that’s fine.” She added that she had no idea if she would be removed from office, but that removal would be “above and beyond cruel and unusual punishment.”
SGA members could not comment on the issue because the resolution was proposed during executive session of the Senate and, according to SGA rules, any comments may lead to their own impeachment.
Editor-in-chief Stephen Cooney contributed reporting to this story.