Student Association President Huda Scheidelman accepted a petition Friday for her impeachment.

SA Sen. Galvin Kennedy and newly-elected Sen. James Mertes started the petition on Jan. 28 and collected senate signatures from Dave Ivers and Jody Jancaric. Newly-elected senators Gavin Kemp, Kathleen Rosenberg and Steven Zarch also signed the petition.

Scheidelman said the petition was “not that much” of a concern for her because she knows that she has “done a more than competent job.

“I have not violated the constitution,” Scheidelman said.

A two-thirds senate vote is needed to remove Scheidelman from office. Mertes said the senators are, “not trying to get 30 senators to remove her from office. Rather, we want to have 45 senators listen to both sides of the arguement with open minds.”

Ivers said many senators are displeased with Scheidelman, but are afraid to impeach her.

Sen. Jordan Kagan said Scheidelman has made some mistakes, but “I don’t feel impeachment is the best thing for the senate or anyone. It could slow us down.”

Kennedy and Mertes claim there are no ulterior motives involved.

“Our motivation is Huda’s lack of performance,” Mertes said. But Scheidelman said it is obvious the senators’ ulterior motives are to “aid their own power.”

According to the impeachment petition, the SA executive board, under Scheidelman’s direction, gave permission on Dec. 16 to the Black Student Union to charge an admission fee for black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan’s Jan. 30 lecture.

On Jan. 16, the SA Supreme Court justices decided that the executive board acted unconstitutionally. According to SA bylaws, SA-funded organizations cannot charge for programs, plays, and events without SA Finance Committee review and senate approval.

An emergency senate meeting was called Jan. 21, and the senators allowed the BSU to charge admission. However, some senate members said they were forced to decide in favor of the allocation to avoid breach of contract, Mertes said.

Kennedy said he does not want to bring the BSU or Farrakhan funding into the impeachment issue because they are finished. The issue focuses on Scheidelman’s questionable actions, he said.

Mertes said Scheidelman “knew 72 hours in advance that action needed to be taken” on the funding, but did not attempt to contact any senators for an emergency meeting.

“Three people decided the fate of student funds, rather than 45,” he said.

Ivers said the executive board, and specifically, Scheidelman, ignored or bent the SA consititution, bylaws, and operating rules to benefit themselves.

According to SA bylaws, the executive board can act for the senate when immediate action is needed. Ivers said the executive board knew in December a senate decision on funding was needed, but they waited and called an emergency meeting.

Ivers said he will ask the senate to take away the emergency power from the executive board and give it to the senate speaker who will contact senators in case of emergency.