Student government president recommends chairman’s removal, VP questions proposal

Student Government Association President Luis Carbajal recommended Wednesday that Chairman of Programming Sean McLemore be removed from office with a last-minute speech that was not on the Senate’s agenda.

“It has just been a lack of performance,” Carbajal said. “Projects haven’t been handled in a timely manner.”

Carbajal cited multiple projects in which he said McLemore’s performance fell short of expectations. These events include an SGA-sponsored men’s basketball game that purportedly did not occur due to communication issues, and McLemore’s involvement in the recent Large Events Funding process.

McLemore was responsible for creating the applications for the groups hoping to get funding from the Large Events Fund. Carbajal delegated additional tasks that he said never got done.

McLemore said Carbajal did not give him enough time or information to complete the projects.

“I’m not even a member of the Large Events Committee,” McLemore said. “I feel like a lot of the things that have happened that were supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the committee have been dropped on me.”

SGA Vice President Olivia Sullivan, who directly oversees McLemore’s committee and is a member of the Large Events Committee, said McLemore is doing his job.

“Everything (McLemore) has been working on is heading in the right direction,” Sullivan said. “I had heard no complaints about Sean until (Wednesday).”

Sullivan also said this was the first year the Large Events Fund has been attempted, which added to some of the confusion during the process. She said the SGA journal is vague about the various responsibilities, which she thinks will be remedied in the future. Overall, however, she felt the funding was successful.

“At the end of the day, the three groups who applied to get money are getting their money and their events are happening,” Sullivan said. “I don’t know what the problem was.”

Carbajal said Sullivan might not have been aware of some of the issues that occurred during spring break because she was gone or that she simply didn’t see the problem.

“I’m not sure what (Sullivan’s) standards are on what needs to get done,” Carbajal said.

Although the recommendation came after all of the items in the agenda and many members of Senate had limited knowledge of any problems with performance, Carbajal said that their surprise was “not something (he) was really expecting.”

McLemore was surprised himself. He said he was notified about the possibility of the recommendation 24 hours before the meeting. 

“There was no real warning that he wanted to do this,” he said.

Carbajal said he attempted to contact McLemore before spring break.

“I feel that (this) is something you do verbally instead of texting or e-mailing,” Carbajal said. 

Carbajal hoped to contact him at the Senate office meeting prior to spring break, but said McLemore did not attend.

Senate members were also concerned that a direct recommendation was made by the president instead of the complaint going through the Senate Review Board process. The board operates as SGA’s disciplinary board.

“When you skip Senate Review Board, you’re skipping a big part of the due process in SGA,” Sullivan said. “But Luis did have the authority to do what he did.”

Although Carbajal has the authority to make recommendations, Sullivan said that to her knowledge, it hasn’t been done in at least five years.

“This is the first time we have ever had a president make a move like this,” Sullivan said.

Carbajal said he made a recommendation instead of referring to the review board because of the short amount of time left in the semester and because a review takes a lot of time.

Many Senate members felt the few weeks left in the semester added to the confusion.

“If we only have a month left, I don’t know what the purpose is,” Sullivan said.

SGA Treasurer Tessie Arambula pointed out that with only a few weeks left in the semester, the various positions carry forward until June 30, possibly justifying a position replacement late in the semester.

“The overall idea with any position in SGA is to make sure we have the best person for the job,” Arambula said.

Senate members decided that McLemore did not have enough time to develop a rebuttal, and that the recommendation would be tabled until the next meeting. 

Carbajal said 24 hours is what the journal says is adequate time to conduct an emergency meeting, and should be adequate time to prepare a defense.

“If you’re doing your job, it shouldn’t take you 24 hours. It should be evident you’re doing your job,” Carbajal said.

SGA will continue the debate on Carbajal’s recommendation on Wednesday. The Senate will decide whether or not McLemore will be removed from office.

“I think 25 senators is more than enough to make a decision like this and I have full confidence in whatever they decide to proceed with,” Arambula said.