After being impeached on Tuesday, November 12th at Central Student Government’s (CSG) 18th meeting, the six-week trial of President Alifa Chowdhury and Vice President Elias Atkinson ended with one guilty count each. As of December 23rd, 2024, the verdict is in effect, and current Speaker of the Assembly Mario Thaqi is now President of CSG. The vice presidency will be vacant until a Thaqi-nominated replacement is approved by the Assembly.
The impeachment motion, formally proposed by Representative Margaret Peterman (LSA) and ghostwritten by a half dozen other CSG associates per source, originated after the October 8th meeting of CSG on North Campus. That night, dozens of protestors swarmed CSG members and allegedly made threats, resulting in an evacuation order of the building. CSG Student General Counsel Tyler Watt penned an Op-Ed that demanded their resignation, saying Chowdhury and Atkinson “did nothing to stop the mob that ended the October 8th meeting by shouting down the Speaker, spitting on an… intern, following CSG members to their cars, and lobbing every insult in the book at their fellow students. Chowdhury and Atkinson could have followed up that night by apologizing and offering support to affected student government members. Instead, they opted to take over the CSG Instagram to condemn their government, locking all other members out and changing the password in the process…” Even before the infamous 10/08 meeting, Watt made other allegations saying “[Chowdhury and Atkinson] have intentionally not filed CSG as a Sponsored Student Organization, jeopardizing its potential to disburse student funds and use U-M spaces in the future.”
According to the official decision, President Chowdhury and Vice President Atkinson were accused of five constitutional violations ranging from incitement of violence, dereliction of duty, and cyber access violations, which was an allegation specific to Chowdhury. Of these five allegations, the Court found Chowdury and Atkinson guilty of two of these counts: dereliction of duty by both Chowdhury and Atkinson. President Chowdhury’s guilty verdict came as a result of missing numerous CSG meetings, which violates CSG rules limiting the Executive to 4 meeting absences. Vice President Atkinson’s guilty verdict came as a result of failure to organize council meetings, which are constitutionally required.
While neither was found guilty of the other three allegations, the Court does not need to find Chowdhury and Atkinson guilty of all five counts in order to be removed. The guilty verdict on Article 3 and Article 5 alone is enough to officially remove both Chowdhury and Atkinson. This decision represents a historic move for CSG, as this is the first time a President and Vice President have been both impeached and removed in CSG history.
When asked for comment, Impeachment Manager Liam Reaser gave the following quote to the Review: “Simply put, I think that the Court today sent a strong message that actions have consequences. It’s a real disappointment that the former President and Vice President thought it was appropriate to run for a position they had no intention of actually doing the work for, but it’s reassuring to see that our checks and balances functioned as they should have.” Reaser previously served in the 13th Assembly as the Rules Committee and Election Code Task Force Chair, along with unsuccessfully challenging SHUT IT DOWN’s victory back in April.
Speaker Mario Thaqi, now automatically president of CSG per the All-Campus Constitution, commented on his priorities. “I plan to get a cabinet appointed as we come back in January. We have a good foundation and we are ready to hit the ground running… with our task forces in both action and advocacy.” When asked about how his administration will differ from the SHUT IT DOWN executive, Thaqi remarked: “Main areas [that] I want to focus on are campus climate and affordability.”
President Thaqi previously served in the CSG Finance Committee for two years, becoming its chair in the 13th Assembly. According to multiple sources, Thaqi helped organize the effort to break through SHUT IT DOWN’s obstruction of student organization funds, disbursing University-loaned funds in August before CSG officially passed the Wolverine’s Budget Act on 10/23. Additionally, Mario Thaqi confirmed that Executive Nomination hearings will occur over Christmas break in order to appoint as many officials as possible at the first meeting of the Winter ‘25 semester on Tuesday, January 14th. Currently, there are dozens of vacant executive positions set for nomination.
SHUT IT DOWN has not responded to the Review’s requests for comment at the time of publishing. This article will be updated upon their response.
DISCLAIMERS:
Wade Vellky was elected as an LSA representative in the Fall 2024 election with the KEEP IT RUNNING party. Vellky had no input nor effect on the impeachment, as it was voted on before his inauguration.
Tyler Fioritto served and ran in CSG for two years with multiple members who were involved in the construction of the Articles of Impeachment for President Chowdury and Vice President Atkinson.
Tyler Watt, CSG’s Student General Counsel, has been affiliated with the Review through multiple contributions and authorship of opinion articles.
