Editorial: Jean-Baptiste should resign

In the wake of a fight early last Sunday morning after which Duke Student Government President Joshua Jean-Baptiste and two other Duke students were charged with assaulting a North Carolina Central University student, Jean-Baptiste should resign from his post as DSG president.

Although Jean-Baptiste has not been found guilty, these events have caused Jean-Baptiste and DSG to lose credibility. Jean-Baptiste cannot continue to be effective in his role as DSG president--as a liaison between students and the administration and as a leader of the organization--when he is being charged with assault. Even though the charges against Jean-Baptiste remain unproven, he has lost the respect of the student body and the University community at large for his alleged involvement in these events. For this reason, Jean-Baptiste should do the honorable thing and resign, thereby salvaging some credibility for DSG as the organization enters the last month of the semester

At the same time, however, it does not seem that DSG as an organization has enough information to begin impeachment proceedings against Jean-Baptiste. DSG and others must continue to give Jean-Baptiste the benefit of the doubt, and lacking credible evidence of his role in this fight, DSG should not act to impeach him. Additionally, questions remain over whether impeachment is an appropriate response to these events. Rather than impeachment, Jean-Baptiste should take matters into his own hands and resign.

A large part of the reason why Jean-Baptiste should resign is the fact that his last major job as DSG president is to give a presentation to the Board of Trustees in early May. However, with his court date set for May 6, it is hard to believe that Jean-Baptiste will be able to prepare for both the Board of Trustees meeting and his court appearance. Additionally, there is at least the possibility that Jean-Baptiste will be unable to give this presentation because he may be incarcerated.

Thus, in order to ensure that DSG accomplishes as much as possible in the last month, Jean-Baptiste should step aside and allow either Executive Vice President Justin Ford or Chief of Staff Emily Grey to give the presentation to the Board of Trustees in May.

The response of next year's DSG executive board has also been disappointing. The statement the executive board released regarding Jean-Baptiste's arrest said absolutely nothing except for sagaciously pointing out that fighting is bad. If the executive board was going to take a stance, it should have at least taken a definitive stance in support or opposition of Jean-Baptiste. Hopefully, the lack of leadership from the executive board on this issue will not carry over to next year and they will begin to take principled stands.