Without a majority vote on either article of impeachment, the U.S. Senate acquitted President Bill Clinton Friday, and some Iowa State students are happy with the outcome.

“I really think the verdict was right, but the fact of the matter is that it shouldn’t have ever happened,” said Jeremy Faris, freshman in exercise and sport science.

“He didn’t do anything impeachable, in my opinion,” Faris said. “He said what he thought was the best answer when it came to ‘sexual relations.’ He did not have intercourse with her, and I agree with his answer and the verdict.”

Many people said they were opposed to the process and thought the trial was not justified.

“I think it was a partisan issue with the Republicans trying to ‘get Clinton’ for something that they should not have investigated in the first place,” said Karen Bolton, sophomore in agronomy and genetics.

“This was a private thing between him and his family, not the American people. I don’t think they should have launched an investigation, and they certainly should not have tried to impeach him,” Bolton said. “He shouldn’t have lied, but he wasn’t lying about world politics and relations. He didn’t lie about anything that threatened our country.”

Jason Koelker, freshman in management information systems, disagreed, saying he thinks Clinton should have been impeached for “lying and committing perjury.”

“[Clinton] said that he did not have sexual relations before the Paula Jones lawyers and admitted he did have sexual relations later,” he said. “Lying under oath one time and then speaking about the same circumstances the next time and saying something different, that is perjury.”

Koelker said he thinks Clinton was acquitted because House prosecutors presented a weak case.

“I personally think that the presentation of the case was done very sloppily, and they could have presented a much better case,” he said.

Although both Republicans and Democrats have pledged bipartisanship, Faris said it seems very unlikely to be true.

“I think this will be a continuing issue with Americans, and this will split the country politically for awhile,” Faris said. “Americans want [the House and Senate] to work together, but I doubt that will happen in the not so distant future.”

According to a recent CNN poll, 71 percent of Americans feel the Republicans will be the losers in the fallout of the impeachment trail. Many students agreed.

“The Republicans will be the ones that will ultimately lose in the end because they were pushing impeachment,” Bolton said. “They didn’t listen to the American people by keeping this thing going.”

“Partly the media is to be blamed because they have put it in such a negative light … during this event, I think they showed the Republicans as ‘Republican-nazis,'” she said.