Impeachment articles filed against SGA vice president candidate

By: Caitlyn Freeman, Editor in Chief and Jonah Lewis, SGA Reporter

On the eve of the election, articles of impeachment for neglect of duty and abuse of power have been brought against the attorney general of the Towson University Student Government Association and vice presidential candidate, Christopher Omisore, according to documents obtained by The Towerlight.

On Tuesday, Vice President Damon Edwards II sent the articles to all SGA leadership around 8:00 p.m., according to an email obtained by The Towerlight. The two articles were endorsed by five senators, including Clifton Crosby Jr., who is running against Omisore for the vice presidential role.

Edwards II is required to distribute articles of impeachment in his role as Vice President as per the SGA Constitution.

Omisore said he believes the timing of the charges is vindictive given the SGA election cycle and the wrongdoing he’s being accused of is false. He is running under the TakeoffTU ticket alongside current SGA Pro-Tempore Chidi Nwachinemere, who did not respond to request for comment by publication.

“I feel like it’s really just unnecessary,” he said in an interview late Tuesday.

The first article on the neglect of duties alleges that Omisore had “not been to meetings, i.e., budget hearings, and governmental operations committee meetings,” which the signatories allege is a neglect of duties.

Omisore said the only meetings he’s required to attend are grant committee meetings, which he chairs. The SGA constitution states that Omisore acts as a member of the Government Operations Committee due to his status as attorney general.

He said he couldn’t attend the Operations meetings due to a class scheduling conflict, and he made the adviser of the SGA aware of this. This could not be independently verified by The Towerlight prior to publication.

The second article accuses Omisore of abuse of power, saying that he “was asked where in the governing documents does it give his office the power to [remove an elected member solely], and the attorney general failed and refused to provide a clear interpretation of the student government association governing document during that time.”

Omisore said he believes the charge comes from a personal vendetta one of the senators has against him based on a Professional Development Review, SGAs accountability review process, that he issued against the senator. This could not be independently verified by The Towerlight prior to publication.

The Towerlight is not identifying the senator as they could not be reached by publication Wednesday.

“The person that brought these charges, [the senator] has a personal vendetta against me ever since he’s joint SGA and Clifton Crosby, my opponent, is trying use this an opportunity to help him in the election race,” Omisore said in a text message.

Crosby Jr. did not respond to a request for comment by publication Wednesday.

The organization’s constitution states that the Senate may impeach a member of SGA if they provide three signatories to a special resolution. In order to remove a member of the SGA from office, a trial will be held as well, and the Senate must vote in favor of removal by a two-thirds majority.

The constitution states that impeachment does not prevent a student from running in future elections.

Voting for the 103rd administration begins on April 19, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.

The Towerlight has reached out to the five sponsoring senators for comment but did not receive any by publication Wednesday. Additionally, President Jordan Colquitt, who is running for re-election, declined to provide comment on the impeachment, while Edwards II did not respond to the request by publication.

The story will be updated if comment is received.

Editors note: an earlier version of this article included the name of the senator whom Omisore is accusing of having a vendetta. However, The Towerlight meant to redact the name because it could not get in contact with the senator prior to publication. We have updated the article to remove the name. We apologize for this error.

Additionally, this article has been updated to clarify that while Edwards II sent the documents, he was doing so in his role as vice president as he’s constitutionally required to do.