Update: 11:51 a.m. May 25, story has been updated for clarification.
Cabinet members of the Associated Student Organization (ASO) are planning to resign at their banquet this Friday, May 26 due to a failed impeachment of the current president, ASO director of human resources said.
At the ASO meeting on Thursday, May 18, the directors voted to keep Eman Dalili, 21, as the current ASO president. This decision caused a conflict of interest between its current members, Tiffany Ushijima, 20, director of human resources, said.
There needed to be two-thirds majority vote for either side to win. There were seven who voted yes, eight who voted no, one who did not vote, and a few members who were were not present, Ushijima said.
She added that the reason she and other cabinet members voted against Dalili was because of his failure of holding responsibilities.
From April 12 through May 18, Dalili has had a total of two unexcused absences, according to the Director of Human Resources attendance sheet.
“I think this is a statement towards (any future president), if you’re our leader then you should lead,” Hanna Chu, 20, vice president, said.
Greg Toya, director of student development, was unavailable to meet to discuss details regarding the attempted impeachment.
“ASO is a student organization so please follow up with students for the story,” Toya said in an email.
Details regarding disagreements between Dalili and ASO cabinet members remained unmentioned when asked about.
“There was a personal vendetta against me and it wasn’t even close to passing,” Dalili said.
Chu and Ushijima are co-chair of activity coordinators and planning to resign at this point of the semester would make a big impact since “Finals Madness” an event coordinated during finals every semester is approaching, Chu said.
“It doesn’t seem fair that we are going to put over fifteen hours of that last week of school which is our finals week while the president is someone who doesn’t show up, or if he shows up he’s in this (ASO room) doing his homework,” Chu said.
ASO has never had a situation where “Finals Madness” has not been put together, and this might be a situation of it not happening, Chu said.
ASO has fundraised, passed and purchased five flowater stations in a short amount of time and saved out students tens and thousands of dollars. They have left behind a lot of strong ideas for the future ASOs, including charging stations and a new lounge area, Dalili said.
“It was (proven) during the last meeting which is why the senate overwhelmingly voted to keep me as president,” Dalili said. “In the eyes of the senate, and in the eyes of the administration we’ve been one of the best (student governments).”
This year ASO grew into a full cabinet and senate for the entire year, which was the first time that has happened in a decade, Dalili said.
“If this (was) high school I’d comment on that all day,” Dalili said. “But you know we’re in college one-fourth of our students are housing and food insecure and to discuss trivial impeachments because people are mad at each other, we’re better than that.”
