Jose Gonzalez-Campelo/The Cougar
Editors note: Headline was changed from “executive leaders” to “senate leaders” after further review.
On Tuesday, the Student Government Association held a special meeting to account for the brief session last Wednesday.
For multiple meetings the Senate has deliberated on the censure of Sen. Jesus Nieto after he was removed from his committee roles by Speaker of the Senate Sebastian Ballesteros, who cited a bylaw allowing him to coordinate Senate committees.
Nieto has challenged this removal as an overreach of power, however, the resolution of his censure was read at the meeting.
Ballesteros, as well as Sen. Anahi Ortega emphasized that there was no bias or prejudice involved during the pursuit of the censorship.
However, Nieto held up a sign that read “LIES” as a response.
Screenshot of Nieto’s Screen during the Tuesday night meeting.
Ortega, who co-authored the resolution to censure Nieto, led the first reading of the resolution.
“Other SGA members confessed that their confrontations with Nieto were not productive and did not produce anything meaningful,” Ortega said.
Nieto defended himself from Sen. Mohib Awan’s testimony which included the accusation that Nieto had interfered with the appointment process for executive cabinet positions.
In a moderated caucus, Nieto presented evidence against Awan and Ballesteros on how they influenced the selection of candidates by favoring those with a personal connection to them.
Nieto provided screenshots showing favoritism towards Sen. Savannah Bivens to take the internal affairs chair even though she lost her election and was not a senator at that time.
In another screenshot, Awan encouraged the divisive behavior that he accused Nieto of, specifically during the appointment of the current Director of Public Relations, Kristal Crockett-Rodgers.
This behavior led to Crockett-Rodgers leaving her first two SGA meetings in tears.
Screenshot from Sen. Jesus Nieto
Awan and Ballesteros also participated in discordant behavior during executive appointments when they saw that they recognized none of the candidates.
Although Awan appreciated Nieto for being the most vocal senator and even referred to him as the “campaign dog,” he condemned Nieto’s persistent behavioral misconduct in the resolution.
“This is why nobody likes you and nobody wants to work with you,” Awan said to Nieto in a private leadership conversation.
After the presentation, the Senate proposed individual censures for Awan and Ballesteros. However, actions on the censures were hesitant as Nieto questioned if they were even necessary since these censures would be taking away time from focusing on the needs of the student body.
Screenshot from Sen. Jesus Nieto
The other option in question would be to have the senators keep their leadership positions and require them to go through remedial training and professional development. The SGA board could also extend this training to the entire board.
On Wednesday evening, Ballesteros released a statement apologizing to the Senate for his actions and mentioned conducting an internal review of Awan’s actions.
As of now, the resolution of Nieto’s censure has been tabled indefinitely.
Additionally, the Senate fixed the attendance records that caused an early adjournment of the last meeting and Sen. Haley Salinas was removed from the Summer Senate as a result.
Invalid votes that were previously counted during appointment committees or the passing of legislation were removed from voting records, however, they did not impact the outcome of the legislation.
