Behind the scenes of Vice President Isaac Davis’s removal and reinstatement
Editor’s Note: The identities of three senators have been purposefully left anonymous. At The New Political, anonymity is only granted in cases where the subject matter of a topic is sensitive and/or could cause harm to the individuals involved in the piece.
The story was updated to include that Commissioner Dan Gordillo is running for 2024-2025 Student Senate vice president. Additionally, Sen. Kiandra Martin said the quote that was originally written to be said by Ayshni Tandon. A statement by Vice President Isaac Davis was also added.
On Feb. 21, Ohio University Student Senate voted to remove Vice President Isaac Davis from his position in a vote of no-confidence, meaning members of the press and other observing persons were not allowed to listen in. 22 of the 32 members present voted in favor of his removal.
According to a comment from Student Senate President Megan Handle, the reasons for his removal were “repetitive failure to execute his duties and unwillingness to improve.” Handle has acted as the only channel of discussion wherein questions can be asked, as is allowed under the Senate’s constitution.
However, prior to the Feb. 21 meeting, The New Political (TNP) received an anonymous tip via email from a member of the Senate who wrote to inform the publication of Davis’s removal.
“What they will not tell you is that he is removed because of his lack of effort in the workplace, sexual misconduct in the workplace, and creating a hostile work environment for his commissioners,” the anonymous tip alleged.
For the sake of clarity, there are three anonymous persons involved. Each name is a pseudonym. The initial tip reached out under the pseudonym John Hops. The other two anonymous sources who did not supply their pseudonyms will be called Matthew Smith and Sarah Johnson.
Hops went on to describe a situation wherein Davis allegedly discussed the sexual history between himself and a colleague without consent from that colleague to other members of the Student Senate. He also allegedly bragged about his relationship with this colleague.
“She doesn’t like me, because she’s in love with me,” Davis allegedly said.
This exact wording was repeated by Smith and Johnson.
“To be clear, the sexual act was consensual,” Smith said in a phone conversation regarding the allegations. “The divulging of the act in a workplace setting was not, and this is workplace harassment and a violation of her [the Senate member whom he had relations with] right to privacy in the workplace. And, none of us, myself included also, none of us wanted to hear about that.”
Hops also described a situation where Davis allegedly pressured a member of the Senate under him to give out the personal information of another Senate member. When told no, he allegedly insisted that “you have to, I am your boss.” Johnson repeated this claim.
According to Johnson, the Student Senate judicial panel had been made aware of Davis’s alleged behavior during the fall semester sometime in late October to early November via a judicial referral, which was sent to TNP. A judicial referral is a document written by body members to refer another member for investigation by the judicial panel. The judicial panel, in standard procedure, allegedly opened an investigation into Davis, but the investigation was halted before they could cite articles of impeachment as by then Davis had been removed.
The referral cites many of the same claims made by Hops as well as additional information regarding a situation where Davis allegedly called another member of the Student Senate in an attempt to “pressure her into supporting his pending legislation”. When she declined under the grounds that it would be a violation of her role in the Senate he allegedly “began to yell at her persistently.”
The referral cites instances of Davis allegedly using weaponized incompetence to delegate tasks to other members of the Student Senate. In particular, the referral includes an incident of Davis’s lateness in submitting a budget request involving the Ohio Student Government Summit. According to the referral, Davis’s reason for this was that he did not know how to submit a budget request. In addition, the referral and those who worked with Davis noted that the commissioners under him were acutely affected by this, as their workload increased.
“The job of the vice president is to lift up the commissioners and support them. He has not engaged in these duties,” Smith said. “He only started to change when he felt that his position was in danger.”
All three anonymous sources, Handle’s official statement, and the judicial referral note Davis has an alleged pattern of behavior and a lack of change in behavior after it was pointed out to him. In particular, Johnson mentioned that the Student Senate does workplace evaluations throughout the semester to inform members of what they’re doing well and what they can work on.
“His [Davis’s] were awful,” she said. “But he made no changes to his work ethic or the fulfillment of his duties.”
The Senate body’s inability to publicly discuss the reasons for Davis’s removal falls onto official procedure and policy regarding the right to due process and the right to privacy.
“The Senate and administrators have been doing everything by the book,” Johnson said when asked about the Senate’s policy regarding official statements. “It's just unfortunate that while things are being done by the book, women have to be subjected to uncomfortable situations.”
A week later on Feb. 28, it was announced that Davis would be reinstated to his position due to “irregularities” in the vote and that the Senate Judicial Panel would open an investigation into the voting process.
This decision was met with mixed reactions from the Senate body. On one hand, some people pointed out that following Davis’ removal, several Senate members whose identities are unknown had made insensitive comments regarding his upset reaction to the issue.
“Myself and my partner were virtually harassed with defamatory statements and sexual comments regarding myself and even my mother, alongside comments such as quote ‘imagine crying and running out of the room after getting voted out. Can’t even take it like a real man’.” Davis said during the meeting. “Comments like the ones I’ve mentioned are terrible, harmful and untrue.”
Some also urged the Senate to behave professionally regarding their treatment of Davis.
“I'm very, very disappointed to see how the people in this body are representing themselves during this time,” Black Student Affairs Senator Kiandra Martin said. “I hope that if you’re making some noise today that you know if these accusations are absolutely true.”
On the other hand, many members felt like their voice as members of the body was being taken from them. Student Senate, while supported by Ohio U, is a separate body with its own rules and procedures. Many expressed that this element of the body was being undermined by outside powers.
“By reversing our vote of no confidence because of irregularities with no proof,” Sen. Colton Gibbs-Dunlap said. “You have taken away my voice as a student and as a member of this body.”
There was also confusion as to what “irregularities” occurred during the vote, as there was no elaboration or specifics provided.
“This body demands answers to what irregularities occur during the vote, followed by a proper investigation by the judicial panel, and not just faculty meddling in student affairs,” Commissioner Dan Gordillo said. “And to the powers that be: do you want a government or do you want zombies?”
Gordillo is currently running for Student Senate vice president.
Regarding these irregularities, TNP reached out to Dean of Students Kathy Fahl for comment. Fahl serves as the advisor for Student Senate, a position that all student organizations have. An advisor's job is to offer advice to students, connect them with resources and provide financial oversight.
Dan Pittman, who is the senior director of the University Communications and Marketing team responded to TNP’s inquiries. In an email, he wrote: “Following the vote to remove the Student Senate Vice President, several students came forward to report irregularities in the voting process. Due to these irregularities, the Vice President has been reinstated.”
He added that the irregularities in the voting process may represent a violation of Student Senate rules and procedures.
“It will take some time for Student Senate to resolve this situation while ensuring due process,” Pittman wrote. “Acting within her scope as Advisor, Dean Fahl and her colleagues in the Division of Student Affairs will continue to support Student Senate.”
Later, in a one-on-one interview with Gordillo, he explained that the Student Senate leadership received notice of Davis’s reinstatement via Dean Fahl at around 4 PM on Wednesday, Feb. 28. Senate members were informed shortly after.
“I have spoken with people that voted in to keep him in and I’ve talked to people who voted for removal” Gordillo said. “We all agree: we feel as if very important powers have been taken away from us without any due process. It’s an overreach of the university.”
The Feb. 28 meeting also shed light on more breaches of conduct committed by Davis which were not included in the judicial referral. In particular, Chief of Staff Carson Sarver recounted that on Oct. 25, Davis was unable to attend a general body meeting due to a yearly fraternal event at Phi Kappa Psi. As she was walking home from the general body meeting she walked past the Phi Kappa Psi house and saw that the event was a date party.
“Vice President Davis gets paid to be within his position,” Sarver said. “I believe that if you are paid to be in a position of power your expectations and your responsibilities should be fulfilled to the best of your ability. You should not be leaving a general body meeting to get drunk.”
On Friday, Mar. 1, TNP received an anonymous tip containing an email that was sent by the law firm Pattakos LLC to Ohio U officials that oversee the Student Senate, including Fahl and Graduate Assistant Luvina Cooley. The email was sent out on Wednesday, Feb. 28.
The sender, Peter Pattakos, explained that he is representing Davis in connection to “recent defamatory statements that have been published about him by certain members of Ohio University's student senate, and related violations of his constitutional and other civil rights”.
The email describes “the notion that any public-university sanctioned "removal" process by which a student is deemed "not fit to remain in office" based on wholly unpublished and anonymous accusations that the student is not even permitted to know or understand let alone answer or rebut cannot possibly comply with due process.”
It then asks for the immediate reinstatement of Davis and for them to cease and desist in “instituting or carrying on sham student senate "removal" or "impeachment" proceedings as a Trojan Horse for defamation,” lest they proceed with legal action.
There are two inconsistencies in the above statements. One is regarding Davis’s supposed inability to know the reasons he was deemed unfit for office. As written above, Student Senate conducts performance evaluations throughout the semester. Last semester two performance evaluations were conducted on Sept. 20th, 2023, and Dec. 6th, 2023. These performance evaluations exist to inform members of the body how their colleagues feel they are performing. Davis was removed on Feb. 21, 2024, meaning he had from Dec. 6th, 2023 until Feb. 21, 2024, to address his poor performance, which according to anonymous sources, Handle’s official statement, and the judicial referral, he did not do.
Secondly, the nature of the defamatory statements is made unclear. TNP is aware of the existence of several Yik Yak posts, which are anonymous by nature.
Screenshots of YikYak posts related to the removal of Davis. Taken by Mia Kraus.
For context, according to Mullen Law Firm, “A defamatory statement is a misrepresentation of facts that causes someone to be hated, ridiculed, shunned, or harm their business or trade, causing reputational damage to them.”
Davis is an elected official and receives half of his tuition from Ohio U in exchange for his service in the Student Senate. Therefore it can be argued that he is a public figure. In a court of law, public figures must prove that the defamatory statements come from an individual who did so with “actual malice.” As far as TNP is aware, there has been no proof of malice from Davis’s legal team.
According to Hops, the Senate is aware of the potential for legal action. Lucy Becker, the Woman’s Affairs commissioner expressed concerns over advisors' “dismissive behavior” from advisors during the Feb. 28 meeting and is fearful of legal action.
This concern was echoed by Hops and Smith.
“That lawyer absolutely scares the crap out of Senate,” Hops wrote in an email. “It feels like if we don’t do exactly what Isaac [Davis] wants he is going be pointing a loaded gun (his lawyer) right at us.”
Smith also spoke about an incident that occurred on Feb. 22, the day after Davis was removed. During a Senate event that took place at the Student Senate office in Baker Center, Davis had shown up outside near the exit to the room.
“He was yelling, saying how he’s gonna sue this place, saying how he’s going to sue everybody,” Smith said. “Like you can’t just do that standing near the door, you’re keeping everyone holed up in the office.”
Some senators have also been sending out anonymous emails to others in the body, urging them to take action.
“Money and power and a group of lawyers should not be able to decide the outcome of Senate leadership, legislation, or the future of the Senate,” read an anonymous email sent in protest to the Senate body. “Do you truly think you can support someone who is so easily inclined to threaten those he plans to lead just a couple of months later? What kind of leader goes after his own?”
According to Gordillo, it is difficult to gauge what the body can do to address the matter due to its unprecedented nature. However, individually there are options members can use.
“I know I can submit referrals,” Gordillo said. “I know I can submit candidacy revocations. The Dean of Students has personally told me that we can always go and talk to her. So those are the three things that we can start with.”
Additionally, the Senate Judicial Panel has opened an investigation into Davis after receiving another referral. This second referral included much of the information from the first referral, focusing on Davis’s execution of his duties with additional evidence provided in the form of screenshots and testimony.
As of publishing, Davis remains in office as vice president and has announced his bid for the 2024-2025 Student Senate president.
On Mar. 20 Davis responded to requests to comment, sending a statement to TNP: “The vote of no confidence was overturned because rules and procedures were broken and improper practices were implemented to achieve the outcome of the vote. The natural course when this came to light was to reinstate me as Vice President because the vote did not reflect the voice of the senate nor was it based on any legitimate reason for removal. This episode, like others in the recent past, raises concerns about whether the University's rules and procedures comply with due process and otherwise ensure that the student body's choices of their elected representatives aren't thwarted by false accusations or petty grudges on the part of other student government leaders. I will work to ensure that this process is not so easily abused in the future and otherwise look forward to getting back to work on issues that actually serve the student body, as I was elected to do.”
At the behest of Davis’s attorney, The New Political has provided a link to Davis’s full statement on his removal and reinstatement here.
The New Political has not verified all anonymous claims made in the statement.
