SGA votes against removal of member

Discussion, action taken in executive session

_{Members of the Student Government Association, students and alumni are shown during the senate’s Feb. 16 meeting, during which they discussed impeachment proceedings against Sergeant-at-Arms Alexis Uscanga. The meeting took place in Sabal Hall on the Brownsville campus. Jesse Valencia/THE RIDER}

After an impeachment and failed removal of a Student Government Association member during a Feb. 16 meeting, The Rider reached out to Senate Chair Gregorio Zuñiga for comment on how the vote was carried out.

College of Fine Arts Senator Zuñiga said Sergeant-at-Arms Alexis Uscanga Cadena used the official SGA logo in a post on his personal social media account on Dec. 5, voicing his stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Zuñiga said use of the official logo for personal purposes is grounds for an SGA bylaws violation.

Kourtnie Hernandez, SGA program coordinator, told The Rider in an April 4 phone call that the association’s logo is a secondary UTRGV logo and its usage falls under regulation by University Marketing and Communications.

Under Marketing and Communications’ policy and procedures on the UTRGV website, it states

that any use of a trademarked logo must be approved by the University of Texas System Trade Mark Office.

“​​The trademarked logos of the university may not be distributed for use by any other entity without the express permission of UMC and or the university attorney,” the policy states. “Approvals will be granted with a ‘use clause’ outlining the specific terms of use.”

The impeachment charges against Uscanga were brought up anonymously.

Article 7, section 7.02, subsection D of the SGA constitution states “Articles of impeachment do not immediately result in the removal of a member, but provide due process for the accused which involves an investigation, examination of the evidence, and debate and vote on individual articles of impeachment.”

School of Nursing ​​Senator Rensanali Dela Cruz motioned for the executive session to discuss Uscanga’s impeachment and develop a list of questions to ask the defendant, during the Feb. 16 meeting. College of Sciences Senator Isabella Marie Zapata seconded the motion.

During the executive session, agenda items, special guests, the SGA president’s report, adviser’s report, standing committee reports, unfinished business and new business were discussed, according to the meeting minutes.

Zuñiga said the public did not hear the articles of impeachment because it took place after the senate moved into executive session.

He said the vote was anonymously cast and that it could not be released to the public due to the executive session being “private.”

_{Student Government Association Sergeant-at-Arms Alexis Uscanga speaks to a group of students and alumni supporters in the hallway after the SGA called an executive session Feb. 16. Jesse Valencia/THE RIDER}

On Feb. 22, The Rider called the Student Press Law Center for guidance regarding the Texas Open Meetings Act, which “requires meetings of governmental bodies to be open to the public, except for expressly authorized closed sessions, and to be preceded by public notice of the time, place, and subject matter of the meeting,” according to the act’s handbook.

Mike Hiestand, senior legal counsel for the Student Press Law Center, said the act states that a body that has “power over public policy” or “public funds” is subject to the law.

The Internal Affairs Standing Committee has the “responsibility, authority and jurisdiction” to approve all recommended monetary appropriations of the Student Senate pertaining to the senatorial budget, according to the rules and procedures of the SGA.

“There are some specific rules that come into play when you’re going to go into a closed door or an executive session,” Hiestand said. “In order for it to be valid, the first thing is they have to provide notice that they are going to go into this executive session and they have to cite the specific exemption in the law that they believe allows them to go behind closed doors to discuss it.”

He said discussion and unofficial votes can take place during closed sessions, but the official vote has to take place during open session. Votes taken during closed sessions are considered invalid under the act.

The notice of impeachment was listed in the meeting’s agenda under new business.

SGA President Odalys Saenz said a student must request a petition to write impeachment papers and send it to the chief justice. The papers are then reviewed by the SGA’s judicial branch and, if determined unconstitutional, are sent to the Department of Internal Affairs for further evaluation and questioning.

“If [the judicial branch does] feel like [the impeached] have broken the constitution, it moves to the senate, which we are gonna see today,” Saenz said during the meeting. “You guys are gonna see a senatorial debate, and they are gonna be the ones who say if he is impeached or he is not impeached.”

The public did not see a senatorial debate or voting process in which the decision was made.

While waiting outside the meeting room during the executive session, Uscanga said, “A senator has used the SGA logo before.”

During the executive session, the senator was called back into the meeting to give a personal statement but was not present for the vote.

“I want to open up a legislation to know exactly what the student government is doing for the students,” Uscanga said while waiting outside the meeting room. “… I want to make change in UTRGV.”

After an anonymous majority vote held during the executive session, Uscanga was told he was not removed from the senate.

–Rider Editor-in-Chief Natalie Lapsley contributed to this report.