Editor’s Note: The following article is an updated version from the article published in the March 6th edition of The Trail. The original article contained certain factual inaccuracies. The Trail is dedicated to providing accurate reporting and apologizes for any misinformation.
On Feb. 19, Greg Reeser brought grievances to the formal senate meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Puget Sound regarding Sophomore Senator Kyle Chong and the Pogar/Vallance voting ticket.
Reeser’s allegations included misrepresentation, polarizing the senate, manipulation of private conversation and political manipulation to secure further political positions in the University’s student government.
Endorsement of the Pogar/Vallence ticket by Chong violates election rules and practices.
As it stands, Chong has been accused of attempting to secure a committee position should Pogar be elected president, though the committee position to be offered stands unclear.
“These actions I have mentioned are of an extreme degree of inappropriate malfeasance which must be addressed by the extreme use of senate disciplinary authority: the impeachment of Senator Chong,” Reeser said in the forum.
ASUPS has indicated that impeachment is not a legitimate form of recourse under these circumstances.
An anonymous informant also made a separate complaint that dealt with the validity of campaign signatures of candidate Timothy Pogar, who is running with Kaitlyn Vallance for ASUPS Executive positions for 2015. ASUPS has deemed these signatures to be legitimate, however.
According to Reeser, Pogar promised Chong his current position in the senate once elected.
There is also possible information concerning Pogar’s decision process.
University faculty had allegedly urged Pogar to come up with an individual to secure his current chair, and he had chosen Chong to be his replacement.
The validity of Reeser’s and the informant’s statements have not been verified by ASUPS and Chong has not confirmed the allegations.
“While I cannot verify, confirm or deny any of the validity of those statements, I can say that those statements were intended to call upon my resignation as Senator, and those statements were intended to cause severe and significant damage to my professional [and] personal reputation,” Chong said.
Despite a lack of concrete information available, the rumors concerning the senator’s impeachment and the degree to which Chong has been vilified have caused backlash against both ASUPS and Chong: death threats were posted on the anonymous social media app Yik Yak.
There is currently no petition circulating calling for the impeachment of Senator Chong. There will be updates concerning the presidential ticket of Pogar/Vallance and the developments regarding Senator Chong’s position as more information is brought forward.
