Sunday’s discussion and impeachment vote of Student Association President Huda Scheidelman should be done in the open.

Scheidelman is under the gun for giving student fees to the Black Student Union for Minister Louis Farrakhan’s speech in January, among other incidents that question her competence.

It is not clear if Galvin Kennedy and James Mertes, the two senators who started the impeachment ball rolling, have enough votes to kick Scheidelman out of office. However, it is clear that everyone’s cards should be laid out on the table.

Of course, both sides are jockeying for position. But the meeting should not be closed to the public to hide the discussion behind closed doors and the vote should be done by asking each senator individually for a “yes” or “no.”

Unquestionably, the senators have the right to do that exact thing. However, students deserve to know how their representatives voted.

Impeachment is a serious issue. Therefore, the senators should treat it as such, but should still maintain the respect to the people they represent by doing their business in the public eye.

Unfortunately, there is an SA precedent with impeachment proceedings to conduct everything behind closed doors. Senators want their discussion to stay amongst themselves. But the SA should start a new precedent: one of openness, honesty, and above all—courage, and conduct the matter out in the open.

That’s what public life is all about.