Schmidt cleared

Student Senate Thursday voted against admonishing Sen. Eric Schmidt (Soph-CBA) for comments he made during a debate over Academic Initiatives last month.

Those arguing for the admonishment cited the disrespectful tone Schmidt used and the embarassment felt by several Awareness Through Performance performers lobbying for a Senate endorsement of renewing the Initiatives over Schmidt’s comments.

Those against the admonishment focused on the difficulty of quantifying “disrespect,” negative public relations the move to punish the senator has generated, and the precedent punishing a senator over a tone of voice would set. One senator also said he heard Schmidt apologize to the ATP lobbyists for the tone of his comments after last month’s meeting.

Schmidt also asked the Senate’s forgiveness in a brief monologue, citing his passion as the reason his tone may have offended some senators.

Still, twelve senators were unconvinced. The vote, which required a two-thirds vote to pass, failed 12-12-2.

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