Editor’s note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Update 3/14/2020: This article has been updated to include statements released by ASUCI Senate Parliamentarian Kimo Gandall and ASUCI Engineering Senator Bryce Lindsey, as well as clauses from the ASUCI Constitution.

Update 3/11/2020: This article has been updated to include comments from ASUCI Senate Parliamentarian Kimo Gandall, ASUCI President Randy Yan and Elections Commissioner Gregory Torres.

An investigation from the Office of the Student Advocate General found ASUCI Engineering Senator Bryce Lindsey and ASUCI Senate Parliamentarian Kimo Gandall guilty of several misconduct charges based on “multiple” complaints filed with evidence, according to a testimony released from the Student Advocate General on Wednesday, March 11.

According to the testimony, Lindsey and Gandall were charged for abuse of power, cronyism, harassment, coercion and voter manipulation.

“The Office of the Student Advocate General immediately requests the ASUCI Senate to initiate impeachment and/or removal charges against ASUCI Senate Parliamentarian Kimo Gandall and ASUCI Engineering Senator Bryce Lindsey for their disbarment from ASUCI for the rest of their time at ASUCI,” the testimony said.

The Office of the Student Advocate General said that they cannot release the evidence due to “potential privacy and FERPA implications.” However, as of Thursday, March 12, the Office of the Student Advocate General released the evidence to the Judicial Board and the Senate.

The New University received part of the evidence from an anonymous source and can confirm the legitimacy of the source. The evidence shows Lindsey and Gandall’s alleged coercion, collusion, harassment and voter manipulation.

Gandall — who serves as the Senate Parliamentarian and as an Associate Justice for the ASUCI Judicial Board — was found guilty for the following charges:

– Coercing other judicial board members to vote with him for legislation and trials.

– Colluding with Lindsey to install himself on the Judicial Board and Senate Parliamentarian.

– Voter manipulation during and outside of Senate meetings for legislation and appointments.

– Harassment of multiple members of ASUCI.

When a New University reporter asked Gandall about the specific contents of the evidence, he said that the charges were not true and that he did not know what the instances that the reporter mentioned were.

Gandall declined to comment further and proceeded to tell the reporter that he wished her “good luck” with her news articles.

“While perhaps sufficient to present evidence as to an indictment to the Senate, I was somehow preliminarily convicted ‘guilty’ of rather vague charges without due process,” Gandall said in a statement he released on Wednesday evening. “The SAG, and his ‘staff’, have taken it upon themselves to extend their Article 9 power to ‘investigate’ to be the authority of the judge, juror, and executioner. In doing so, I was convicted ‘guilty’ by a body that has no power to do so – a grave and blatant violation of the constitutional separation of powers.”

According to the ASUCI Constitution, the Chief Accountability Officer can investigate and report any wrongdoing or misconduct by an ASUCI official to the Student Advocate General, who must bring the report to the Judicial Board. The Chief Accountability Officer can also take or suggest necessary action to “remedy an ASUCI official’s neglect of duty.”

“Their [Gandall and Lindsey’s] misconduct has tainted the integrity of both the ASUCI Senate and ASUCI as a whole, and the Office of the Student Advocate General formally calls for their impeachment and/or removal from office immediately,” The Student Advocate General’s testimony said.

However, there is no clause or section within the Constitution that gives the Office of the Student Advocate General the power to convict.

In his statement, Gandall accused the Student Advocate General of leaking the evidence to the media. This is not true for the New University and more information is available here.

Gandall is a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians. He could be found in violation of the National Association of Parliamentarians Code of Ethics because of the charges. If Gandall is found to be in violation, he could be, at most, expelled from the association and his credentials could be revoked.

Lindsey was found guilty of the following charges:

– Threatening and coercing other senators with impeachment and other threats for their voices.

– Voter manipulation during and outside of Senate meetings for legislation and appointments.

– Harassment of multiple members of ASUCI.

– Colluding with Gandall to install him on the Judicial Board and as Senate Parliamentarian,

– Leaking confidential executive session information to Justice Gandall when his appointment was being discussed.

“I do not comprehend where his office is given the power to serve as a judge. Unsurprisingly, the judicial authority solely rests in the Judicial Board,” Lindsey said in a statement he released on Thursday, March 12.

Although there is no section in the Constitution that gives the Office of the Student Advocate General the power to serve as a judge, the Chief Accountability Officer has the power to “take or suggest necessary action.”

“If the Senate is going to hold me accountable to some of the same things that the Student Advocate General found … against them, that they should be held to the same level of accountability as they did to me,” said ASUCI President Randy Yan. “There should be a through investigation and … there should be consequences for their actions.”

The Senate impeached Yan last month and accused him of abuse of power, maladministration and perjury. The preliminary hearing for Yan’s case will be held on Thursday, March 12 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. The hearing will be livestreamed.

Shortly after the impeachment, several students petitioned for the recall of a majority of the Senate members, including Lindsey. According to the ASUCI Constitution, “the Elections Commission must validate them and call a special election if the requirements are met.”

Elections Commissioner Gregory Torres told the New University that ASUCI Senators Ivan Fonseca and Michelle Ann Mallari will introduce the commission’s Special Election Timeline as a legislation at the Senate’s meeting on Thursday, March 12 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Oriana Gonzalez is the 2019-2020 Editor-In-Chief. She can be reached at eic@newuniversity.org.