The SGA Senate on Oct. 6 voted to recall President Arsalan Darbin. | Haya Panjwani/The Cougar
Seventeen Student Government Association senators have been suspended until the end of 2021 for voting and passing an amendment to the Special Recall Election Code — which the SGA Justice Department deemed a constitutional violation.
The decision came from Attorney General Nadiia Hutcherson, who is taking a leave of absence beginning Thursday. The SGA Supreme Court approved the decision to suspend the senators.
The following senators have been suspended:
Senate speaker David Paul Hilton
Smarika Bhattarai
Nini Dang
Samuel Eagleton
Natalia Marinero
Katie Worsham
Navid Hassan
Edward Vo
Eduardo Moeller
Sarah Imran
Rasha Shreim
Henry Teccsi
Diego Lopez
Rohit Shajan
Abraham Sanchez
“The original suspension is voting on a bill that the court deemed unconstitutional and our adviser stated not to vote on,” Hutcherson said. “The complaint and the court decision are on the Department of Justice website. The email regarding the suspensions was sent privately to those it applies to.”
“Additionally we are dealing with a large number of complaints and election code violations,” she added. “Multiple violations are subject to suspension, so there is possibility it will be more.”
Correction: Two senators – Christina Brown and Alexis Cheatum- were removed from this list after a revision was made by the Attorney General.
Note: This story will be updated as information is released.
