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LOCK HAVEN - Student government leaders at Lock Haven University could be facing impeachment over a controversial trip to California and an alleged cover-up about attendance at a national conference there.

A large group of angry students turned out Wednesday night at a Student Cooperative Council meeting, demanding action against leaders who did not attend a conference despite traveling to Los Angeles and staying for nearly a week. University officials also came under fire for allegedly failing to follow university policy in regard to the trip.

The student Senate made a motion to impeach SCC President Christopher Lunden, Vice President Brent Frederick, Treasurer Zack Davis and called for the immediate resignation of all SCC executive members with prior knowledge of the trip.

Student leaders and a university staff member traveled to California for the purpose of attending a national conference of college student leaders, but admittedly did not participate in the four day event. Lunden, in an email to the Senators of the SCC on Nov. 16, admitted that the group did not attend the conference held Oct. 22-25 in California.

But according to Lunden, when the executive members arrived on the West Coast, they could not use an SCC special account credit card in the name of Director of Student Activities Jodi Smith because California law requires the credit card holder to be present to use the account. Smith did not travel with the group.

Lunden claimed that prevented the group from registering for the conference.

Upon their return, Lunden said the group "received a stern talking to by Jodi Smith." He wrote that the SCC executive board was sanctioned by the Office of Student Activities and the executive board is required to pay for the trip out of their executive account.

Frustration over the trip, which reportedly cost upward of $8,000, has been growing. Posters were put up throughout campus urging attendance at Wednesday night's SCC meeting to protest.

During an interview with local TV station WTAJ, University spokesperson Mary White said, "We must make sure that our student's due-process rights are protected."

The university declined further comment pending an SCC Ways and Means Committee investigation on the matter, including the issue of which funds were used for the California trip.

A statement from the SCC claimed, "No Student Activity Fees were involved in regard to the matter in question."

There was no further comment from either the University or the SCC.

At an earlier SCC meeting, held Oct. 28, Senator Meghan Mittal asked how much time was spent at the conference, to which Lunden replied, "We spent a whole day at UCLA and two days traveling." His answer intimated that the group attended the conference.

But Wednesday night, Lunden - in the midst of an apology - admitted, "We did not go the conference and we did not plan on going to the conference."

Lunden's admission met with an uproar from the many students who filled the meeting room and hallways of the PUB. The floor was then opened to senators to question the actions of the executive board.

Student Jeffrey Ward stood and read a statement he prepared with SCC Executive Board member Clayton Snyder, who did travel to California.

The testimony accused the SCC executive board of going to Los Angeles with no intent of attending the conference. The statement claims that, "Vice President Brent Frederick believed that a part of the money was being spent from the Student Activities Fees. These fees are fees that students are forced to pay."

That claim sparked particular unrest among the students in attendance.

Snyder presented copies of emails with his statement and distributed them to the senators, calling for "the immediate resignation of all who had knowledge, as well as those who signed off on this trip with the knowledge that the conference was never to be attended."

This included the executive board members, SCC professional personnel and university officials. If there were no resignations, the statement claimed they would "petition for impeachment of the elected members of the executive board and petition for an investigation of professional personnel and university officials involved, to the university."

At that time, Snyder stood, apologized and resigned from the executive board.

The floor was then opened for student questions -something that would last for two hours.

A primary question was: What did the board really do while in California?

Lunden said the executive board "rented a Hummer, toured Hollywood, toured the UCLA campus and went to Universal Studios."

The reason given for renting the Hummer was that it was only a $10 upgrade from a smaller vehicle and, according to Lunden, "we wanted to be comfortable."

While the amount spent on the trip has yet to be officially concluded, speculation set the price at over $8,000.

Student after student took the microphone to express their disappointment and mistrust of the board. Many students urged executive board members to accept the consequences of their actions and step down.

"We are deeply hurt by this poor decision. You have broken our trust and we urge you to build that trust back. We are deeply, deeply hurt," said student Don Palesky.

When no other members resigned, Senator Josh Peacock called for the impeachment of Lunden. Further action was taken when Senator Ryan Hemm extended the impeachment charges against Frederick and Davis and further investigation of personnel and university officials.

After the impeachment was motioned, Lunden declined to comment further, except to say, "True," when asked if his position as president of the SCC paid for 95 percent of his tuition.

According to The Student Cooperative Council Constitution and Polices manual, the Ways and Means Committee, the committee responsible for reviewing all matters concerning the constitution, will now be responsible for investigating the merits of the proposed impeachment and, if due cause is established, the matter will be brought to a vote before the Senate.