The International Student Council president, who is facing impeachment after allegations that he used an unconstitutional bylaw clause to remove an officer from the council, said the Judicial Board was unfair to him in refusing to reschedule his hearing.

Programming Officer Leslie Rocha Roman presented her case on Nov. 16, saying ISC President Kevin Lindquist wrongfully terminated her, acting under Clause J of the duties of the president under the ISC’s bylaws. Roman also said she never had the chance to explain herself before her termination.

No one was present to represent the ISC’s defense. Once the hearing adjourned, the judicial board had five days to come to a decision and deliver it at the next ASWSU Senate meeting.

About four hours after the hearing, the judicial board had come to a per curiam decision, meaning the board agreed unanimously and wrote a collaborative ruling.

“We believe that (Roman) should be reinstated simply upon the fact that her termination was unconstitutional in the first place,” Justice Dalvin Yarbrough said. The board called the J Clause excessive and impetuous in its decision.

Lindquist said he was unable to attend the hearing because of a scheduling conflict with class work and asked the judicial board to reschedule.

Chief Justice Eden Kelshaw said Lindquist’s obligations did not conflict with the timing of the hearing and it had already been rescheduled three times for other reasons. It would have been impossible to gather the justices for a hearing between Thanksgiving and winter breaks.

“It would not have been fair to (Roman) to push it to January,” Kelshaw said. “We fully believe we were not asking too much of (Lindquist) and that we were being fair and unbiased to both parties.”

Lindquist said the board’s refusal to reschedule again was unfair to him.

“If I have class stuff that is conflicting with something going on, I am doing class stuff first because that’s why I am paying my tuition,” he said.

A main point of the board’s decision rested on the J Clause’s unconstitutionality.

“Duties of the ISC President shall include: … In special situations will be able to implement executive action without having a vote on the matter with other executives. Their actions will have to be justified after to the executives, council and advisers,” the clause stated.

Lindquist said this clause was passed alongside other revisions at the end of last semester by last year’s ISC president. Lindquist said the last president, a bylaw revision committee and himself all worked together to write the revisions, including the J Clause, which the council later voted on. Lindquist said Roman was part of the council that passed the revisions.

Lindquist said executive leaders in other organizations have the authority to remove people from office if need be and so should the ISC president. He compared the clause to a bee sting, in that it ultimately hurts the president who uses it. Lindquist pointed to the last sentence of the clause, mandating the president justify their actions to executives, the council and advisers.

“If you don’t have justification to use (the J Clause), you should just resign,” Lindquist said.

Yarbrough said without the J Clause, there was not enough to warrant firing Roman, but the Senate Internal Committee should review the J Clause for its constitutionality anyway.

“(The clause) leaves out avenues for due process,” Yarbrough said. “It is not reasonable for a student organization.”

Lindquist said the attitude Roman showed on a regular basis prompted him to remove her from office. He said they sat down twice to discuss improvements and he reached out to her beyond that but she declined.

It is now up to the ASWSU Senate to decide whether Lindquist should be impeached.