The president of Alpha Gamma Sigma was impeached Tuesday for a variety of campus rule violations.

Patrick O’Green was removed from office after a unanimous vote by the seven cabinet members at AGS’s club meeting.

Alex Silina, formerly first vice president of AGS, was appointed to the presidency by default.

The official reasons for the impeachment as cited from the AGS parliamentary rule book include failure or refusal to disclose necessary information on matters of organization business and misrepresentation of the organization and its officers to outside members.

According to club adviser Hoover Zariani, who explained the violations in lay terms, O’Green was organizing certain activities without notifying the cabinet members first and was sharing unnecessary and personal information to outsiders about club members.

“This was something that was building all semester,” said Zariani. “It was not easy. It was a difficult choice to make; all the members felt guilty in a way. But the members felt they were doing this for AGS…They love the organization.”

According to Zariani, a general meeting was held May 1, when the former president called an unexpected cabinet meeting without giving prior notice. Some of the cabinet members were present; however, some were nots as they were not informed about the meeting.

That same day, the cabinet decided to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the unruly conduct of O’Green.

The cabinet members at that May 1 meeting voted to impeach O’Green.
However, Student Activities Coordinator Alen Andriassian deemed the impeachment unofficial since not all the cabinet members had been present.

At Tuesday’s official meeting, however all members were present, along with Zariani, Andriassian, Kim Bryant (a former AGS advisor) and general members as witnesses to the impeachment hearing.

Cabinet members were allowed to voice their concerns about O’Green’s executive conduct and O’Green was allotted time himself to argue his defense.

“The impeachment was unanimous by all cabinet members,” said Silina. “I feel we are now stronger and united haven gotten rid of something we believe was detrimental to the club.”

As far as the validity of the impeachment, member sentiment points towards the justification of the club’s actions.

“I feel the measures taken were justified,” said Peter Braganáa, AGS newsletter chair. “There was a lot of disunity in the club and unfortunately a lot of that stemmed from the executive. We took measures we felt need to maintain the legitimacy of the club.”

“As advisor,” said Zariani, “I’m here to guide him. My point is to help them achieve what they want to do by doing it properly. By letting them achieve things by themselves, they learn leadership.”
O’Green could not be reached for comment.

“I think the club may see some sort of stigma, but I hope members and outsiders take into account the democratic means used,” said Braganáa.

“I firmly believe all remaining cabinet members will overcome this recent controversy and happily unite to finish off the semester,” said Silina.

“Now that this is all over, we are more synchronized. We can now follow through more smoothly.”

“In the end, I think they did the right thing and I support them,” said Zariani.