Diana Carpio, speaker of the Undergraduate Student Government, was removed from her position Tuesday night after an anonymous vote in which a two-thirds majority of senators was needed to enact the removal.
Carpio told Annenberg Media that she believes the decision to remove her was more personal than professional; she said she experienced some personal conflicts starting at the beginning of the school year.
“Being speaker means you’re entertaining the interests of several students, of several senators, of several members of cabinet, of several people in USG, it’s a very, I think, unseen job, and it’s very hard for that reason, because you start to lose what your interests were In staying in student government. And for me, it seemed like I was more committed to USG than I was to myself,” Carpio told Annenberg TV News
According to Carpio, there was a regular 7 p.m. student senate meeting, followed by a second meeting during which the vote took place. Carpio said a secret ballot was submitted and it was a quick five-minute process. She said that shortly after the meeting, she received an email saying that by two-thirds majority, she was being removed from her speaker role.
Following USG’s decision, Carpio plans to resign from USG entirely.
Carpio said that at the end of the day, she does not take a personal grievance from the decision. She said the speaker is supposed to represent the student senate’s interest.
“I think it was a little hard to walk back into working with colleagues who didn’t necessarily respect my leadership, or would feel inclined to necessarily work on projects with afterward,” she said.
Current USG vice-president Brianna Sanchez said there were different ideas as to what the role of the speaker should be.
“It was very differing perspectives in just the senate themselves. So I know some senators felt certain ways, and other senators felt completely opposite,” Sanchez said.
According to Sanchez, USG respects Carpio’s decision to resign and wants to ensure that she still has a good legacy in USG. The process to elect a new speaker will begin in the coming weeks.