The most recent Pizza and Politics was held on Wednesday, Oct. 9 and hosted by the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service at Southern Utah University. This week’s topic was impeachment.
This topic is everywhere on the news, nationally and internationally. The students of SUU debated a plethora of subjects all pertaining to impeachment.
The specific subjects ranged from the impeachment process and whether it is efficient enough, if the constitution is clear about the offenses that could get a president impeached, and if past presidents who have faced impeached actually performed impeachable offenses (Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton). Impeachable offenses include treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
One of the questions with many responses from the audience was, “What do you think should be an impeachable offense?”
“I think that we should hold our executive officials to a higher standard than we hold the everyday person,” said Karaline Taylor, a freshman Engineering major. “It’s not just what we usually could be convicted of a crime or anything, but it should be more than that… They are the ones who are leading our country. They are the ones in charge setting a precedent in our global presence, so they should be held to an even higher standard and even non-common crimes should still be considered.”
Some other topics covered were whether a president should be removed from office once they are impeached, and continued with specific questions regarding the current impeachment scandal. This included whistleblower protections, the inquiry into President Donald Trump and if his actions concerning the call with the Ukrainian president warrant impeachment, if the vote to impeach should be public or private and the impeachment process of SUU.
If you would like to participate in future debates on topics like these, Pizza and Politics is held every Wednesday at 12 p.m. in ST 112.
Story by: Morgan Crookston
news@suunews.net
Photos courtesy of: Morgan Crookston
