Bethel student council president placed on social probation after breaking lifestyle covenant

Bethel student council president Benjamin Andrews has been suspended from executive duty and placed on social probation after being found consuming alcohol, in violation of Bethel’s Lifestyle Covenant, which states, “we agree to abstain from tobacco in any form, alcohol and gatherings where alcohol is present, illegal drugs or narcotics not authorized by a physician.” Andrews was placed on social probation for the remainder of the semester, which means he can no longer serve as student council executive president. Andrews is forbidden from attending student council meetings and from operating as an executive officer. Asia Dennard, executive vice president, is currently serving in his stead. Andrews could potentially be reinstated as student council president next semester after his social probation ends at the end of this semester. The probation has no long-lasting consequences that would affect him beyond this semester. An anonymous WordPress article, (which has since been removed,) criticized the Bethel administration for being too lenient on Andrews, citing former theatre performers who have been forced to abandon roles weeks before opening night or athletes who have been forced to leave the team just before major games. The author felt that Andrews was getting off easy. The Beacon talked with Andrews for his response to this. “My response is that I’m getting the same exact punishment and discipline that anyone else would get,” he said, “I’ve double-checked with (the administration) and even asked them, ‘hey, am I getting special treatment? And they’ve said no. So I think that was (the author’s) main issue, was that I am getting some kind of special treatment because of my position on campus, and I’m not, I’m getting exactly what I deserve.” Andrews expressed his apologies to the student body for the incident and hopes that he’ll be able to move past it next semester. “Obviously I just want to apologize to the student body as a whole for what I did,” he said, “I was distracted and wasn’t focused on my commitment to the student body. And again, I’m genuinely sorry. I’m embarrassed and ashamed at what’s happened, and the last couple weeks have been hard, but I can assure everyone that we’ll turn it into a better situation and next semester we’ll hit the ground running and do even more better things.”