In a situation that hasn’t happened in over three years, the heads of a committee, Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), were removed from office after received a failed grade from senior and Director of Committee Affairs Jalen Benjamin. On January 11 the entire student body listened to the committee explain why they should not be removed.

To replace the former SADD heads, student government held a special election, which took place January 26. As part of the constitutional rules, the impeached heads were allowed to seek re–election,  whether in different groups, or together as the same group.

In the election, the impeached SADD heads together again, ran against another group that included seniors Liliana Bravo, Natalia Hernandez, and Molly Weinberg; junior Chloe Gonzalez; and sophomore Andy Wessman.

Wessman explained his excitement and optimism for the decision. “It’s a great opportunity to to be able to educate the student body on the choices they are making,” Wessman said. “We want the student body to know what the ramifications of their actions are, so they can make informed decisions on what to do.”

One of 17 committees, SADD is meant to educate the student body on destructive decisions, such as alcohol, drugs, sexual assault, and suicide, as well as to hold events to make students more aware and better decision makers for these type of situations. The former SADD heads are seniors Magda Farrug, Jack Cordwell, and Alex Chapman; juniors Sydney Garelick, Amaya Contractor, Danielle Slazas, and Matthew Metzler; and sophomore Alex Ori.

“I don’t want anybody to be impeached or failed–I am definitely on everybody’s side,” Student Government President Kaden Florsheim said. “However, I don’t necessarily think it was the wrong decision for them to be impeached.”

The baseline minimum for meeting the committee requirements as heads of a committee is to hold committee meetings on the designated days and create and lead two relevant events. The committee was given a “needs improvement” as a warning for their mid-semester grade, as Benjamin thought they were not leading the committee seriously or well enough. By the end of the semester they had held only one event, and when they realized what they were missing, had put together a “last second” event, according to Florsheim, which they did not end up hosting, causing them to fail the requirement.

Contractor is unhappy with the decision. “We were upset and confused because we thought we were doing what we should have so it was just out of nowhere,” Contractor said. “Even though cabinet tried to help us, I feel like there wasn’t enough support from the cabinet, and we really didn’t feel like they reached out enough.”

Garelick agreed in her discontent. “We planned an event the day of the impeachment and before the semester was over yet, so technically it still would have counted,” Garelick said. “Everyone told us the semester was over, but the semester wasn’t over until the following Thursday, which makes no sense.”

Contractor gave an idea that she thought could have helped their situation. “When you get a ‘Needs Improvement,’ I think those committees should have special attention on them to make sure they are fulfilling their requirements after,” Contractor said, “because otherwise it just leaves them in the dark.”

Freshman Matthew Garchik reflected on the impeachment decision. “Even if they were only approaching it as a joke from the beginning, and they wanted to start taking it seriously,” Garchik said, “it’s like they already got their 2nd and 3rd and 4th chance, and I don’t think they deserved another giant chance.”

Student government Director of Committee Affairs (DCA) Jalen Benjamin, was largely in charge of the decision-making for this. Benjamin recounted how SADD did put on one event in the first semester, which was a meeting with the student body. However, as Benjamin described it, it didn’t seem very organized, and it seemed like they expected the student body to take control of the meeting, and like they just wanted to have people ask questions, as opposed to actually leading it.

“I do feel like I made the right decision to impeach them,” Benjamin said. “I’m glad that they took it as a wake-up call, like, ‘We need to get on this, and put more energy into our committee,’ but I feel like it was the right decision.”

Not since November of 2014, when a vote was held on whether or not Music Committee would be removed from office, has something like this happened. The committee was not impeached.

Upper school History Teacher and student government co-sponsor Jeanne Barr expressed her thoughts on the future of the committee. “If the purpose of the committee is to offer programs to the student body, I’m thinking we are probably better off if we get some heads who have a real zeal for engagement,” Barr said, “I mean no disrespect to the heads who were removed from office, because I like them all, but as a team, they didn’t get the job done, and I don’t think there’d be too much argument about that.”