Last night marked the first of several lengthy hearings to be held by the Student Government’s government operations committee to review and address the impeachment allegations that have been levied against Student Body President Whil Piavis.

Although few concrete results were readily observed from these proceedings most senators said they were satisfied with the precedent the meeting established, and they anticipate more defined action in future meetings.

“Good discussion came out of this meeting and it set the tone and tempo for where we are going,” Sen. Sara Yasin, a sophomore in fashion development and product analysis, said.

Many senators on the committee said they were disappointed with the lack of defense offered by Piavis, who differed the majority of the questions asked of him to a future hearing citing a lack of knowledge of the allegations posed against him.

“It’s so I know exactly what they are talking about so my defense addresses the acquisitions,” Piavis said.

He said many of the problems addressed in the impeachment legislation were never a presented to him before the bill was drafted.

“It’s all a waste of time, I have evidence on every last one of these allegations,” Piavis said.

Sen. John Mickey, a freshman in political science, voiced similar concerns when he said that whether or not the charges are true, now is not the time when they should be considered.

“What certain senators are doing is accusing The Pirate Captain of wasting time, but we are wasting time in doing this,” Mickey said.

Although much of the year has already elapsed, supporters of the bill still feel action must be taken now to insure those responsibilities still left for the president are handled properly.

“There is still the Board of Trusties meeting to attend so there is still time now to put a Band-Aid on the situation,” Sen. Bo Heath, a senior in communications and vice-chair of the student government operations committee, said in a Feb. 28 interview.

One source of contention throughout the proceedings has been the number of senators sitting on the government operations committee who are either primary or secondary sponsors of the impeachment legislation.

Senator Stephanie Griggs, a senior in political science and secretary of the Student Government operations committee said this fact will not be influential in their eventual decisions.

“Even though our names are on the bill as sponsor, we are still going to listen to both sides of the things and make the correct decisions,” she said.

All the senators encourage interested students to attend the hearings and express their opinions on what is being discussed. Although maintaining objectivity is important to the proceedings, Yasin said she anticipates the upcoming meetings to be much livelier.

“This meeting we were stepping on eggshells,” Yasin said. “I expect the others to get more heated as we start arguing.”

Travis Birdsell, chief of staff to the student body president, speculated why Piavis was unprepared for last night’s meeting — citing a busy day full of activities geared toward serving the student body.

He said Piavis had been busy the previous day with the Founders’ Day events in the Brickyard, and meeting with legislators in a drive to increase voter registration.

“It’s possible that he’s choosing to still serve the student body, instead of finding evidence to disprove accusations against him,” Birdsell said.