EC Vice President Removed from Office
EC Vice President Removed from Office
Allegations of procedural errors and classism cause students to speak out
(Jackson Doane, ‘26)
Newly-elected Vice President of the Student Body, Jackson Doane, ‘26, was removed from office by his fellow Executive Committee (EC) members on May 16, 2023.
Doane was first notified of his recusal from office through a text sent to him by EC President Martha Ernest, ‘24, on Sunday, May 14. “The EC has voted for you to be recused from all EC matters pending an investigation into your conduct[,]” the text read.
“I received no explanation or communication from any Executive Committee member, including Martha, after this text was sent[,]” Doane continued, “Until a phone call I received at 5pm on Tuesday from an Executive Committee member stating that at 9pm the Executive Committee would be voting whether to remove me from office and that I was welcome to come provide a defense[.]”
“I didn’t know any of the charges until I walked” into the Tuesday Business Meeting, Doane told The Spectator. “If there were legitimate charges,” he continued, “I was not given time to prepare a legitimate defense. There was absolutely no due process.”
Having been recused from his position on the EC for allegedly undeclared reasons, Doane delivered this 3-page defense speech at Tuesday’s weekly Business Meeting, the last one before summer.
In his speech, Doane claimed that Ernest had “broken white book policy by holding a secret meeting to vote for my recusal because of my alleged conduct.”
“According to White Book Policy [Article IX,] Section 2, Part B,” Doane wrote, “a vote to recuse an EC member from any EC matter, [sic] requires the majority vote with all EC members present.”
That specific clause relates to Executive Committee honor hearings, though it is unclear whether Doane’s alleged “conduct” being investigated by the EC was related to an honor matter.
Furthermore, that clause does not explicitly require all EC members to be present at a vote, though a former member of the Executive Committee told The Spectator that a reasonable interpretation of the text could require all members to have been properly notified of a meeting in advance.
There are no other instances in the White Book in which EC members may be requested to recuse themselves, and at no point do the EC’s governing documents allow for the recusal of a member from all EC business, including non-honor-related matters.
Doane also criticized the timeline of his recusal, which was “only one day after Martha and I had a disagreement on procedure for a confidential matter.”
Doane was not surprised by this recusal due to purported animosity between the two leaders that goes back to their time as class representatives on the previous Executive Committee.
“Martha’s treatment and demeaning behavior towards me has been constant,” Doane said. “Martha is willing to prioritize her own social proclivities above protecting our honor system and has no interest in actually representing the student body,” Doane continued, “unless you fall into the same social groups and class status as her.”
“Even before the elections for the 2023-2024 EC,” Doane said, “Martha had been making rude comments about my leadership and about the first-year class as a whole.”
Doane’s speech alleged that during budget allocations, Ernest had “made it a point to insult and demean select groups of students on campus.”
“Martha made the comment that she doesn’t see the purpose in giving low-income student organizations any money, as they already go to college for free,” Doane continued. “When I called Martha out for this comment and other ignorant comments about affinity groups, cultural groups, and queer groups during budget allocations, Martha stated that it just simply wasn’t fair to call her ignorant, with no reasoning or apology provided for those comments,” he said.
Email correspondence between the former W&L Questbridge President Taylor Colaizzi, ‘23, and Doane on March 17 claims that Ernest was specifically “discussing funding for questbridge” when she allegedly said the above statement.
Doane also alleged that “During committee interviews, Martha was texting other members of the EC about the students we were interviewing, discussing things such as their appearance, mannerisms, and even calling students ‘stuck-up and cocky.’”
Near the end of his speech, Doane said, “Martha you do not respect me or any member of the student body that does not benefit from the same privilege you have, and I am tired of it.”
Following Tuesday’s meeting, rumor spread that Doane had been officially removed from the EC. His speech was anonymously leaked on Fizz — an online campus community messaging platform — and quickly became a point of student conversation.
Many students on social media channels took to Doane’s side, calling for his reinstatement, for peers to email the Office of Inclusion and Engagement, and for Ernest to resign.
One anonymous Fizz post said, “Maybe she hate [sic] black people[,]” to which a reshare added, “I don’t think it’s a maybe.”
For many low-income and minority students, Ernest’s purported statements have caused great mistrust of the EC and the Honor System.
Sion Jang, ‘24, a Questbridge Match Scholar, expressed her disappointment with the EC, which she says is pitted between either a representative who “could have such demeaning beliefs about minority students,” or a representative who “could accuse a person of these terrible things for power, pride, or greed.”
“I don’t know who is telling the truth (because it’s the EC we are dealing with), but either situation sucks,” Jang concluded.
One low-income Black student — who wished to remain anonymous out of a reluctance “to stand up and speak out against a group of individuals with immense power on this campus” — began their statement to The Spectator by expressing disappointment to see Doane removed. “I never knew Jackson personally, but I knew he was a very compassionate and dedicated person, someone I feel comfortable with handling the important decisions on campus,” they said.
“Ultimately,” they continued, “the biggest issue here is transparency…[M]embers of the EC must inform the students what is happening on Campus.”
“I know the EC removed Jackson for violating confidentiality,” they said. “[H]owever, it is unfair that he gets to be punished [while] the actual statements made by the president still are publically unaddressed. Jackson’s violation of the EC policy should not outshine the real controversy.”
The Spectator reached out to members of the Executive Committee shortly after midnight on Wednesday, May 17 with several questions regarding Doane’s removal and Ernest’s alleged statements.
Later that evening, the EC released an official statement to the student body regarding Doane’s removal.
“On May 16, 2023, in accordance with the Student Body Constitution [Article II, Section F] the Executive Committee of the Student Body voted by two-thirds majority to remove from office the sitting Vice President of the Student Body, Jackson Doane ‘26U, for multiple instances of misconduct, including breaching confidentiality, during the Winter and Spring Terms of 2023,” the statement read.
The EC did not explain what Doane’s other “instances of misconduct” allegedly were.
In a private interview on Wednesday afternoon, Doane told The Spectator that he was found guilty of “breaking confidentiality involving a confidential matter that happened in January.”
In total, Doane told The Spectator, the EC voted on four different charges against him on Tuesday. He was allegedly found not guilty on three counts, which he summarized below:
“leaking set confidential information onto apps such as YikYak or Fizz”
“leaking a tip to The Ring-tum Phi about the secret meeting they had on Sunday”
“breaking confidentiality by telling the student body about Martha’s comments during budget allocations”
He was, however, found guilty on the fourth count:
4. “breaking confidentiality regarding honor matters…back in January”
Doane denies having ever breached confidentiality.
“That [fourth] charge in itself shows how desperate they were to get me off that board,” Doane said. “It is incredibly vague, and there is no validity to it at all. Cause if there was validity, I’d have been kicked off in January. They wouldn’t have waited five months until it was convenient.”
“I see this as nothing but retaliation from Martha,” Doane continued, “for the fact that I have called her out for her behavior, called her out for her comments, and the fact that she disagrees with my interpretation of the Honor System.”
Also on Wednesday evening, the EC released Tuesday’s Business Meeting minutes and congratulated Diwesh Kumar, ‘24, for his appointment to Vice President of the student body, per AII.§C.iv.2 of the Student Body Constitution.
Tuesday's minutes include a transcription of Doane’s speech with select portions redacted. According to the minutes, “the redacted information was deemed confidential by the full executive committee[.]”
(Section of Tuesday’s minutes, featuring the redacted portions, fully readable here.)
Redacted sections include Ernest’s purported statements about low-income students and the appearance and mannerisms of fellow students.
Members of the EC have not responded to The Spectator’s request to clarify why certain portions of the minutes were redacted, but not others from the same exchange.
According to the Student Body Constitution, the EC secretary “shall keep an accurate record of the proceedings…and publicly post these minutes upon two-thirds approval from the Executive Committee.”
The Spectator could not find any example from recent years where portions from open minutes were redacted, though a former member of the EC told The Spectator that they believed their fellow members had a mutual understanding to share only the “general things” that they “knew would be shared in the minutes’ bullet points from closed [portions].”
Dean of Students Sidney Evans has not responded to questions from The Spectator regarding EC procedural precedence.
Meanwhile, Doane’s recusal and suspension temporarily delayed responsibilities delegated to the vice president, namely, spring budget allocations for student organizations.
While recused, Doane redirected all budgeting questions to the EC president.
Some organizations— including the Gaming Club, Student Association for Black Unity (SABU), Questbridge, and W&L Habitat for Humanity — did not receive their allocation email last week as was expected. Those organizations all received funding reasonable to their proposals by May 17, though some organizations reported that they had to contact the EC multiple times beforehand.
Moving forward, Doane has found a great need for reform.
“To start,” he told The Spectator, “the white book and student body constitution need a complete overhaul, including a restructuring of power and additional checks on the EC’s reach of power.”
“The student body must also elect members based on their ability to serve and protect the honor system, rather than their social standing. Being an EC member is a serious position and we must take great caution in who we elect to represent us[,]” Doane continued.
“It’s up to the student body to hold her accountable,” Doane said of the EC president.
Some who have lost trust in the new Executive Committee have called for an audit and potential impeachment, while others want their representatives to better address the now-redacted claims.
Many have also called into question Doane’s personal conduct and the validity of his allegations.
“I’ve heard he is pretty inflammatory,” said one anonymous student to The Spectator. “There’s a reason why a majority of the EC voted him out.”
Elections for a senior representative to fill Diwesh Kumar’s now vacant seat will be held in the fall.
[Update, 5/19/23: Ernest reached out to The Spectator following the publication of this article.
“I was wanting to email you a statement regarding my ‘comments’ that former Vice President Jackson Doane alleged,” Ernest said.
“I did not say those comments during Spring Budget Allocations,” she continued, “and furthermore, the Executive Committee of the Student Body would have taken action against me if I had. I do not condone or support statements such as those.”]
(Ernest’s statement to The Spectator following publication of this article)
