Andres Vargas presided over the Student Government Association Senate Thursday, conducting business as usual — making plans for SGA’s future endeavors. Plans he will not get to be a part of.
At the end of the meeting, Vargas stepped down from his position as SGA president in front of a tearful Senate, leaving Executive Vice President Erin McFadzen temporarily in charge.
Vargas was found responsible Sept. 22 of distribution of alcohol to minors and hosting an illegal party, and was suspended by the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR) for the remainder of the semester, Vargas said.
Vargas was referred to OSCCR after a report was submitted to the New Student Orientation Office by Orientation Leader supervisor Marc Lo. The report described a party Lo had attended held at Vargas’ Mission Hill residence Aug. 14. Along with Vargas, nine OLs and Sen. George Gottschalk were forced to resign their positions, several sources confirmed.
Gottschalk, Vargas’ roommate, plead guilty at his hearing and was also suspended on charges of the sale and distribution of alcohol to minors, hosting an illegal party and possession or consumption of alcohol by a minor, Gottschalk said.
“I don’t know what to be sorry for,” Vargas told the Senate Thursday. “I am sorry that I did not do enough to prevent this from happening.”
Vargas’ speech was met with a standing ovation, followed by several testaments to Vargas’ character provided by members of the Senate.
“A lot of what I’m going to do this year is what I’ve learned from you,” said Sen. Billy Haddad of the outgoing leader. “And years down the road when the little freshmen come up to Senate, I’m going to say ‘President Vargas taught me this.'”
This is the first time an SGA president has been forced to step down for as long as faculty advisor Gerald Herman said he could remember.
“[Vargas] did a brave and noble thing by resigning as he did at the last senate meeting,” Herman said.
The process to elect a new president is already underway, Herman said. Nominations will be open for two weeks, Herman said, followed by a joint senate meeting on Oct. 28 where elections for a new president will be held.
Speculations about who will run for president have been circulating among SGA, but no definite candidates have been identified.
“I think we’ll see at least one member of the current e-board step up,” said Sen. Chad Cooper. “Who it is, I have no idea, but I think they’re going to have one person that [the e-board is] all going to back.”
Cooper said names that have surfaced include one-time presidential candidate Daniel Quintal, interim President Erin McFadzen and former President Michael Romano.
McFadzen, who will also remain vice president for student affairs during her time as interim president, said she had not yet decided whether to run or not, but that she is “ready to throw myself into what needs to be done.”
Quintal, who ran against Vargas last spring, said he has been approached to run for the position and will consider the requests.
Romano, who served as president last year, said he has also been asked to run for president, but said he, too, hasn’t made any final decisions. However, Ro-mano said he is prepared to aid SGA in moving on, whether or not he holds the title of president.
“I really just want to do what’s best for the organization,” he said. “I don’t need the title and I don’t need the accolades or the luster to be a leader.”
It was Romano who first introduced Vargas to a passion for politics, Vargas said, and the beginning of his role in student government.
Vargas transferred to Northeastern from Hawaii Pacific University during his middler year, he said, and immediately felt at home in SGA.
Eight weeks into his first semester as a senator, former Vice President for Academic Affairs Tina Penman was caught drinking in a Davenport Commons residence hall, and was put on probation, forcing her to step down from her position. Her assistant vice president, Vargas, took over.
After serving as vice president for academic affairs, Vargas ran unsuccessfully for vice president for student affairs for the 2003-04 academic year. Vargas did not give up his ambitions to lead the organization, and deferred his graduation in order to run for president the following year.
“I’ve been involved in everything since I got here,” he said. “I’m going to miss being in the mix with things and making things better and making sure things go well. I’m going to miss working with the people I’m so passionate about working with.”
Vargas is currently filing an appeal of his suspension. If the sanction is upheld, however, Vargas will not be allowed to serve as a senator for his last semester at Northeastern.
Patrick Stinus, the third roommate of Vargas and Gottschalk, was also charged by OSCCR with hosting an illegal party and the sale and distribution of alcohol to minors, but was found not responsible on all charges.
Stinus, a Presidential Scholar who has also been active in student organizations including SGA and the Resident Student Association, said his biggest fear when facing possible sanction was the thought of losing his scholarship and how it would affect his future.
“The possibility of having that honor unjustly stripped away was disturbing,” he said. “What concerned me most, though, were the future implications. I was worried what effect a suspension and its associated repercussions would have on my after-grad opportunities.”
Despite the loss of its president and one of its senators, SGA members and former members said the organization is strong enough to cope.
“I never wanted to expect it,” said SGA Vice President for Financial Affairs Alison Barlow. “You just have to deal with fate as it happens.”
– Staff writer Sarah Metcalf contributed to this report.
