Two-Page Spread of Multicultural Day Fun!...................cccece........Page 6 & 7
Vol. 1, No. 3
The Lion’s Eye ‘&
Penn State University, Brandywine
December 2007
SGA HOLDS HEARING
FOR POSSIBLE VP IMPEACHMENT
By Erin Kaskela
Associate Editor
eck137@psu.edu
The Student Government Association is the backbone
that stabilizes the student body of Penn State Brandy-
wine. The work that they do to better our school as a
whole is admirable. This work is executed through a
democracy, a team of leaders that represents the goals and
high academic standards that this university has strived to
create.
President Bernice Irby and Vice President Jeff Murphy
had a friendship formed long before deciding to team up
and run for government positions. Although they didn’t
have any competitors, they still worked together as a
team to win our votes. According to Murphy, he re-
ceived an email from Irby towards the end of November
demanding his resignation. If he did not resign his post,
Murphy says that the email promised the embarrassment
of a hearing involving votes and publicity. When asked
how this disagreement came to this point, Murphy states
that the reasons he was given for him to quit his position
were lack of communication and poor attendance, neither
of which he feels he is guilty of.
“I feel I have done my job as I understand it,” Murphy
says.
The SGA constitution, developed by our Penn State pre-
Coach Paterno’s “More than Modest” Salary Revealed ~~
By Bryan Drissel
Sports Editor
bmd5061@psu.edu
Considering that many of the big name college football
coaches make well into the millions of dollars, Joe Pa-
terno’s $512,664
is relatively mod-
est.
Paterno, recog-
nized by many as
the face of Penn
State University
because of his 57
years coaching
football there,
had his salary
revealed after a
Pennsylvania Su-
preme Court deci-
sion ruled that his
salary was public
record.
As a comparison,
Bobby Bowden
of Florida State,
the only college
football coach
decessors, states that “The impeachment of any SGA of-
ficer must first be discussed with the Director of Student
and Enrollment Services and the SGA Advisor.” The
second requirement is the “The SGA member seeking
impeachment shall call a special meeting in order to let
the SGA decide, by a simple majority, whether or not to
proceed with the impeachment.” That meeting happened
December 7, 2007 at 12:30 pm and the decision is not yet
completely final. From that vote, four voted in favor, two
opposed, and one abstained, two members were absent
and have not yet phoned in their votes.
When Friday’s meeting ended, few members wanted to
comment on the stressful situation.
“I just think is it a shame the situation has had to come
to this because while I appreciate both the President
and Vice President were once good friends, a working
organization requires that communication is top prior-
ity,” says Crystal Paulino, the Diversity Chair of SGA. “I
have nothing against anyone, I am not choosing sides, but
to fulfill their obligations as leaders, everyone needs to
communicate.”
Other administrative board members concurred, with
several agreeing that communication currently in the
SGA is not happening. Angelica Sinigaglio, Academic
Affairs Chair/Secretary Elect, chose not to comment on
the meeting due to ongoing meetings and decisions, but
did echo Paulino’s concerns. “As leaders of our student
government all differences need to be put aside and jobs
need to be done. Everyone in the SGA needs to step up,
communicate, and work together,” states Sinigaglio.
What shall come from this is not yet known. Depending
on the decision of the hearing motion, there may or may
not be an impeachment hearing. Until then, Murphy will
continue to act as Vice President and fulfill all of his du-
ties. There must be a 2/3 majority vote by the entire SGA
in order to fairly impeach an SGA officer. If majority
is reached, the impeached officer must concede his seat
to a nominee chosen by the seven members of the SGA
executive board.
President Bernice Irby chose not to comment on the
situation at hand, due to the fact of personal and ongoing
with more career wins
than Paterno, makes $1.6 million. Even Pittsburgh’s
Dave Wannstedt makes more than Paterno at $713,138.
Many assumed Paterno might be one of the
highest paid coaches in the country. The university
fought hard to keep his salary, as well as the salary of
three other admin-
istrators a secret,
filing appeals with the
Commonwealth Court
and the state Supreme
Court. The final
decision is the state
Supreme Court was 4-
2 with Justice Cynthia
A. Baldwin abstaining
from the vote because
she is a Penn State
trustee according to
the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette.
“I’m paid well; I'm
not over paid. I got
all the money I need,”
Paterno told the As-
sociated Press.
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