Updated at 8:25 p.m. CST March 13

Government of the Student Body officials, as well as those from Iowa State and the city of Ames, said Wednesday night’s GSB meeting was an isolated event.

Abby LaCombe, off-campus senator, admitted last week to being drunk at the meeting. ISU and Ames officials said, though, that LaCombe’s actions are not representative of GSB and should have no effect on the student government’s operations or image on campus.

“It happens. Students occasionally do stupid things. GSB senators are human. They make mistakes. This is why we have a senate of 38 people and not one,” said GSB Vice President William Rock. “I don’t think anyone’s opinion they have of GSB will change. At least I would hope not. If we are at the point where the actions of one person can discredit the student body, then the people doing the discrediting aren’t looking as the picture. It’s like looking at one leaf on one tree and saying the whole forest is bad.”

LaCombe has apologized to GSB officials for her disruptive behavior.

“I apologize to the GSB senate, to all of GSB, my constituents and everyone who was at the meeting. I am most embarrassed by my behavior,” she said. “My behavior was not fair to the student body. The students have the right to a responsible student government. It was not responsible at all.”

LaCombe said she is writing a formal letter apologizing to the senate.

According to GSB bylaws, the GSB Rules Committee can choose whether to investigate a breach of conduct. Senators said, however, that they were doubtful the incident would merit an investigation.

“It’s pretty much an internal issue. The senate will do what has to do to make it right. As long as it doesn’t happen again, I don’t think it will be a problem,” Rock said. “I highly doubt she would be removed, especially with five weeks left in the session. It would be overkill.”

Dave Stout, GSB College of Business senator, said because it was a first-time occurrence and because LaCombe has apologized to GSB and students, a reprimand should be all that is necessary.

GSB College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator James Vogl, who is a member of the Rules Committee, were also among those willing to forgive.

Vogl said it’s unlikely the committee will start an investigation but said the group will meet March 21 and discuss possible courses of action.

Rock said it is most likely that the GSB senate would vote to censure LaCombe and that he has not heard of students or people within GSB “clamoring for her removal.”

“An apology and a promise it won’t happen again should be enough for most people,” he said.

Senators also said the incident was blown out of proportion, chiefly by the Iowa State Daily.

The Daily reported Thursday that the meeting was “disorganized” and “disorderly” — descriptions GSB senators and others in attendance said are inaccurate.

Although LaCombe was inebriated at the meeting, GSB officials said her conduct did not affect the transaction of business that occurred at the meeting.

“I arrived late and I couldn’t tell Abby was drunk until I walked past her. She wasn’t obnoxiously out of control,” Stout said.

Senator Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, who took minutes of the meeting, said LaCombe’s actions did not significantly distract from the meeting, which Beatty-Hansen said proceeded normally. Dean of Students Pete Englin, who is an adviser to GSB, also said he observed the meeting as being productive and well-run.

Thursday’s Daily article also said that Speaker of the Senate Henry Alliger repeatedly miscounted votes. Alliger was at the bar Cy’s Roost, 124 1/2 Welch Ave., with LaCombe and other GSB representatives before the meeting.

At the meeting, Alliger was sober, and, according to GSB minutes, he only miscounted one vote. During a vote on a bill that received 18 “yes” votes and 4 “no” votes, he announced that the bill had failed.

“It was a slip of the tongue, and it was immediately corrected. Nothing came of it,” Alliger said.

Such mistakes are not uncharacteristic at GSB meetings.

“I screw up at least one vote a week and I don’t drink at all,” Rock said. “If a vote is two-thirds, I have to ask someone. Henry was stone-cold sober, just as I am, and happened to misspeak. It happens.”

Andrew Brown, Interfraternity Council senator, entered a motion during the meeting to register his frustration with distractions in the room. LaCombe eventually excused herself from the meeting, accompanied by GSB President Sophia Magill, and received a ride home from a friend.

No effect on GSB itself

The Story County Board of Supervisors is considering an ordinance requiring registration of keg purchases, and Ames residents will vote April 5 on whether to decrease the length of Ames City Council terms — both issues of considerable importance to ISU students.

Some questioned whether Wednesday night’s display could jeopardize GSB efforts in regard to those issues.

GSB opposes keg registration, and many senators — LaCombe among them — have called for loosened alcohol restrictions in Ames.

“I don’t think it will affect us positively of negatively. GSB still has its stances on the keg ordinance and City Council term limits, and those things aren’t going to change,” Stout said. “Should ISU be taken less seriously because of Vernon Wall [a former assistant dean of students who was convicted of drunken driving last summer]? Those are personal issues and personal choices. Was it inappropriate? Yes. I’m willing to forgive her. I don’t think this will be a monkey on GSB’s back.”

Wall left Iowa State in August as his position was dissolved as part of a reorganization on campus between the Dean of Students Office and the Memorial Union. Wall was not fired from Iowa State and chose to continue his doctoral studies elsewhere.

“Wednesday night’s incident should have no bearing on our arguments and our logic in regard to the stances we have taken on the keg ordinance, term limits and Veishea,” Stout said. “Our argument and logic remain the same, and their relevance does not change because of the actions of one individual.”

Officials from the city of Ames have indicated the same when asked about their reaction to LaCombe’s actions.

“I think we need to accept her apology and move on,” said Ames Police Chief Loras Jaeger, who worked with LaCombe on the Veishea task force. “You can’t take the actions of one individual who acted inappropriately and apply that to 27,000 people. It’s the same as if a city official showed up to a meeting drunk. You wouldn’t blame all city officials for the action of one person. That just wouldn’t be responsible.”

Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco made similar comments.

“That certainly has to be an internal affair with GSB,” Tedesco said. “The policies are greater than an individual.”

Alliger said he expects a public statement to be made about appropriate behavior at the next GSB meeting March 23.

“I imagine some people might use it to hold it against the body as a whole,” he said. “I can see [frustration and ire for GSB] being widespread. But part of it is actually moving past it and not dwelling on it anymore. I hope it doesn’t affect anything in the future.”

Rock also said it was important to differentiate between the actions of one person and an entire body.

“It’s not like we had a GSB-sponsored pub crawl,” he said.