Reaction at U. mixed to Clinton acquittal

Whether they supported Clinton or not, students were mostly disgusted with the year-long scandal. President Clinton's acquittal on Friday may have neatly wrapped up a messy, year-long White House sex scandal, but it has left many Penn students with conflicting emotions. Students voiced their disappointment, happiness, relief and apathy in an informal survey last night on the Senate's decision to acquit Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. The president was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19 despite overwhelming popular support for Clinton in national polls. Fifty members of the Senate voted to convict Clinton on charges of obstruction of justice, while 45 voted to convict him on the charge that he committed perjury before Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's grand jury August 17. A two-thirds majority in the Senate -- or 67 votes -- are required to remove a president from office. "I'm absolutely disgusted. I think he should be in jail," College junior James Oakley said. "He committed a felony. It's an embarrassment that someone could commit such crimes against our judicial system. It's bad. It's horrible." College junior Carly Romeo was also disappointed that the president was not convicted. "He just lied blatantly," Romeo said. "The fact that he was doing all this stuff in the office while he was trying to run the country, that pissed me off." And Kelly Ryan, a third-year Law student, characterized herself as "quietly outraged." "Clinton has no moral authority. [The acquittal] basically means that anyone in America can do anything they want," Ryan said. Some students, however, were entirely ambivalent about Friday's events in Washington. "I have no opinion on it. I couldn't care less," College sophomore Adam Wagner said. Cole Parker, a College junior, said that he "didn't even know that [Clinton] was acquitted." "I wasn't even paying attention," Parker added, noting that the entire process has been a "big waste of time." Still, others -- whether disappointed with the president's behavior or angry with the Republicans' continued attempt to remove Clinton from office -- were relieved that the controversy was finally ending. "I was just glad that it was finally over because I was just sick of the entire issue," College sophomore Nilova Saha said. Andy Robbins, an Engineering sophomore, explained that he "was slightly miffed at the whole process, that it took so long and came up with nothing." But Clinton can rest assured that he still has some loyal supporters -- or at least students who were vehemently against the impeachment proceedings -- on Penn's campus. "I thought it was a waste of time," Nursing freshman Karen Cullen said of the process. "He shouldn't have been kicked out of the office for this one little thing. He's been doing a wonderful job otherwise." And College junior Arlene Abecassis called it a "disgrace" that "everybody cuts [Clinton] down," explaining that Friday's outcome ended a "big [distraction] to everyone."

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