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Friday, October 13, 2017

Aftershock of Shapiro Visit to Berkeley

From the Daily Cal:

Berkeley College Republicans president impeached by secretary amid power struggle

10-12-17

Troy Worden was allegedly ousted as the president of Berkeley College Republicans by the organization’s secretary at the end of its Thursday evening meeting.

Bradley Devlin, the secretary of BCR, allegedly impeached Worden because of how he handled Ben Shapiro’s appearance on campus Sept. 14, which was organized by BCR. The club allegedly intends to appoint a “less alt-right” member as president and bring back “actual Republican ideals,” according to a BCR member who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for his reputation.

Devlin said he will be “going in for” the role of BCR’s new president but declined to comment further on the incident. According to Worden, Devlin allegedly called a vote of no confidence against Worden’s role as president at the club’s Thursday meeting without notifying any other members beforehand. The majority of the people who voted, Worden alleged, were freshman pledges from Devlin’s fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, who had no affiliation with BCR.

“Essentially, he brought in a large group of people who, because they signed papers, claimed that they could vote in the election … and then declared the results that I was impeached,” Worden alleged. “We will not allow the ego of one individual board member to distract the club (from) its overarching goals (of) supporting the Republican Party (and) supporting the Free Speech Movement.”

Not all of BCR’s board members were in attendance and none of them had been notified beforehand, Worden alleged. Devlin also allegedly counted the votes by himself without any oversight, according to Worden. Worden alleged that after Devlin announced the impeachment, he and his fraternity members went outside the room and “let out a cheer.”

BCR member Pranav Jandhyala was not at the meeting Thursday night but heard about the incident afterward. He said he was taken “by surprise” but added that he hoped the situation would be resolved.

“A lot of us didn’t know that this was coming or that this was happening,” Jandhyala said. “Nothing is productive when there’s fighting in a club, and in order to be a successful club on campus … the only way to really do that is remaining united.”

Despite Devlin’s impeachment announcement, Worden said he still considers himself to be the president of BCR. "I absolutely dispute it, and actual BCR members dispute it. Any claims he makes to my being impeached (are) false entirely. There’s no grain of truth in it,” Worden alleged. “Now, all he’s done is (create) confusion for the Berkeley community.”

Source: http://www.dailycal.org/2017/10/12/berkeley-college-republicans-president-allegedly-impeached-by-secretary-amid-power-struggle/

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