Photo of Matt Pippen from the engineering senators page on the SGA website
Texas Tech University’s student Supreme Court released a verdict last week against the Student Government Association.
The Tech student Supreme Court met Saturday to hear the case about the potential removal of an engineering student from his position of senator in the Student Government Association.
Matt Pippen, a senator for the Whitacre College of Engineering, argued his rights to due process were violated during his impeachment.
The court found that the SGA’s process to impeach one of its senators was not consistent with the Tech Student Government Association Constitution nor the standing Rules of the Senate.
Due process requires SGA to first charge a person with the offense and separately try the person on the merits afterwards.
“The terms ‘impeachment’ and ‘removal’ are terms of independent significance each requiring a separate process and vote,” the memorandum opinion of the court said.
Memorandum Opinion of the Court
According to the memorandum opinion, the court found that the impeachment process violated Pippen’s due process rights because the SGA combined the impeachment and removal process into one full motion.
“We conclude that Senator Pippen currently stands impeached,” the opinion stated. “However, the process employed to effectuate his removal is unconstitutional.
The opinion called for Senator Pippen to be immediately reinstated as a dually-elected member of the 49th Session of the Student Senate of the Texas Tech Student Government Association.
The opinion also stated that Senator Pippen is entitled to any positions he may have held at the time of his removal. According to the engineering senators page of the SGA website, Pippen serves as infrastructure committee chair, president pro-tempore and parliamentarian.
SGA Attorney General John Vance said two other senators who did not make grades during the fall 2013 quietly resigned, unlike Pippen. He said Pippen’s case is the first time a senator has appealed in this manner and that such cases are rare.
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