On Saturday afternoon, Undergraduate Government of Boston College senator Aneeb Sheikh, MCAS ’20, called the Student Assembly (SA) to hold an emergency meeting regarding the Articles of Impeachment against senator Steve DiPietro, MCAS ’19. Shortly after, DiPietro announced that he and a fellow senator—confirmed to be Matt Batsinelas, CSOM ’19—had resigned their seats in the SA.
“There will be no meeting for any impeachment, as I and a fellow senator have already resigned due to the actions of UGBC over the past few days,” DiPietro said in an email to The Heights.
Batsinelas also shared the reason for his resignation.
“I agree with the basic tenet of BLM – that people of color deserve better in this country,” he said in an email. “However, I strongly disagree with its intersectional components. It is disappointing that Steve could not express his disapproval of BLM without being flooded with harassment from students. UGBC and The Heights promote a hypersensitive campus climate that has created an intolerant student body to opposing viewpoints. I have resigned due to UGBC and The Heights encouraging the harassment of students who threaten the current structure of UGBC.”
The resolution, titled “Articles of Impeachment against Senator Stephen DiPietro, MCAS ‘19,” was prompted by a Facebook post on Friday in which DiPietro commented on the results of the 2018-19 UGBC president and executive vice president election results. According to the resolution, the post, which has since been deleted, stated “Good thing those blm freaks aren’t anywhere near ugbc leadership #staywoke #yacoubian,” and was linked to a Heights article that covered the election results.
“The phrase ‘blm freaks’ explicitly refers to the Black Lives Matter movement and is clearly directed at Taraun Frontis and Aneeb Sheikh, their campaign team, many of their supporters, and Black students in general,” the resolution states.
According to the resolution, DiPietro had not only failed to represent the students who supported Frontis and Sheikh by calling them “freaks,” but discriminated against them on a racial level. It charged DiPietro with four violations based on guidelines set by the BC Code of Conduct and the UGBC Constitution.
The resolution was sponsored by Samuel Szemerenyi, MCAS ’20; Aneeb Sheikh, MCAS ’20; Ibrahima Mbaye, MCAS ’20; Ignacio Fletcher, MCAS ’20; and Connor Kratz, MCAS ’18.
“As far as the proposed resolution, any posts that I made on social media were not directed at Aneeb or Taraun directly,” DiPietro said in an email to the SA. “Instead, they were directed at some of his supporters who, in my opinion, used many racially charged comments, which as I suspect, due to their situations, will go unreproved.”
He encouraged other senators who felt that they were silenced or that UGBC did not represent their views to resign.
“I would ask that you reach out more to hear the thoughts and opinions of students who I know do not feel represented by UGBC,” DiPietro said in his email to the SA. “I also believe that their [sic] should be a public dialogue, representing all opinions, regarding the political climate and race at Boston College, as there are clearly many passionate opinions on the subject and I believe this would be beneficial for everyone.”
Featured Image by Katie Genirs / Asst. Photo Editor
Feb. 17, 9:40 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from Batsinelas.
