Tensions in Associated Students

The debate surrounding Charles Young and the ANSWER Coalition highlighted a shift of power within AS

Amy Inkrott / News Editor / The USD Vista

According to Article VI, Section 2 of the Associated Students (AS) Constitution, AS President Natasha Salgado has the authority to appoint individuals to vacancies within the senate. Of the current senate’s 30 voting members, 15 were appointed by Salgado, 12 were elected, and three seats remain vacant. The recent removal of Alcalá Vistas senator and Student Orgs Chair Charles Young allows for Salgado to make another appointment to the body, further shifting the power balance within AS. 

Young was removed from his position in the AS Senate during the March 14 meeting. This decision comes after three weeks of debate surrounding Young’s interactions with the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, a student organization looking to form on campus. The senator was removed after a debate about whether he broke constitutional procedures and targeted members of the student organization. 

The escalated tensions were apparent as students lined the walls of UC 107, anxiously awaiting the week’s AS senate meeting. Public Safety Officer Milton Maples sat in on the meeting to ensure the safety of the students present. Director of Student Activities and AS Advisor, Jennifer Lee, addressed the tensions caused by this issue and its impact on members of both the public and the senate. Lee offered a chance for dialogue within the community and encouraged each of the senators to attend a restorative dialogue session after the next week’s meeting. 

Previously, the AS Executive Board voted to remove Young for his recent behavior with the ANSWER Coalition. AS President Natasha Salgado emphasized that the decision to remove Young was not to win a debate within the governing body, but rather to protect the safety of the community. 

“Our basis for why the Executive Board is moving forward in that decision is based on how we have senators in this room, we have members in the public who do not feel comfortable or trust a student who has acted in the way that he did,” Salgado said. “Again, our decision is based on how our students and the public have not felt comfortable around this individual, and this individual has not gone out of his way to reach out to those members of the public and in this senate in order to address the mistakes that were made from both ends.”

Though some had argued that the vacant Athletics Chair position invalidated the Executive Board’s vote, Salgado explained the legitimacy of the decision. She noted that this decision was based on a precedent established at the beginning of the Spring 2019 semester, a precedent Young was involved in establishing. 

“Charlie was fully aware that we were completing these performance reviews with vacancies in our Executive Board and he did not at any point suggest the illegitimacy of these reviews prior to then,” Salgado said. “Charlie agreed with the legitimacy of these reviews and was opposed to this performance review simply because it is now applying to him.”

Inclusion and Diversity Chair Jesse Magaña stressed the harm and emotional damage done to members of the community. 

“The one thing we have not talked about in the last meetings is how students impacted by the discussion have been treated and now how we have to rebuild,” Magaña said. “It was asked at the meeting if Charlie compared a group of students who are predominantly black to the KKK and he said yes. If you’re sitting in this room right now and don’t see a problem with that and you want to defend him, and you want to act like it wasn’t said, then what you are missing is an entire community of people for a whole month who have had to rebuild. Have had to seek counseling, have had panic attacks, have had to leave rooms because they don’t feel comfortable in them. That’s what you don’t understand: that people of color have to go through this on campus every single day.”

However, the motion to remove Young was not supported by everyone. Commuter senator Dean Lockwood then motioned to censure Salgado for lack of decorum and irresponsible usage of her executive powers.

“It is not the job of the executive to police or control the opinions of senate members,” Lockwood said. “This usage of executive privilege is, in every single way, intended to limit Charlie’s ability to speak. It is unthinkable to allow one person, that was voted in as our president, to control our entire senate.”

Lockwood emphasized that his motion was not made out of support for Young, but rather to prevent an abuse of Salgado’s executive power. After a lengthy discussion surrounding the issue, the senate voted. The speaker of the senate cast a tie-breaking vote, failing the motion to censure Salgado. This was met by applause from members of the public made up mostly of ANSWER Coalition.

Junior Alanna Bledman, a member of the ANSWER Coalition, then addressed the situation. 

“The only reason you all are here, is because of me, and because of this person, and because of all of the students around you,” Bledman said. “I promise you, if you do not remove Charlie, all trust in everything that you all do will be completely diminished. This school is small, my voice is loud, and we will make sure that this will not continue. If I have to do it just by myself, I will make sure senate shuts down.”

Sophomore Alanah Winston then further emphasized the passion and hurt of those students involved in a response to a senator’s comments asking that the discussion remain free of emotionality. 

“I would beg you all to stop telling me to put my emotions to the side,” Winston said. “I am a black woman. And time and time again, me, my family, my ancestors, my community, everyone I know, whether it’s when we are being shot in the street or 400 years ago when we had the actual whips on our back, we were told every day to keep working and to keep calm. Now you, after I have been in this senate for weeks, begging you to remove the one individual who makes me feel targeted, unsafe, and just unrepresented in this body … you are still telling me to put my emotions aside. I think that is absolutely atrocious.” 

Ultimately Young was removed from his position as Alcalá Vistas senator and Student Orgs Chair with 18 yeas, four nays, and four abstentions. 

When the verdict was delivered, Young grabbed his bag and exited the room. The decision was met with a round of applause from members of the public.

In an earlier interview, Young referred to the growing number of resignations and removals within this year’s senate. 

“We’ve come to a point where our senate is no longer representative of our student body,” Young said.

However, the tensions within AS extend beyond Young. Earlier in the meeting, AS Speaker of the Senate Alexander Plummer nominated Maher senator Kylie Rios to the vacant Speaker Pro Tempore position. Some senators abstained from this vote. As a result, the nominee failed to reach a majority and was not appointed to the position. 

The USD Vista reached out to AS President Natasha Salgado but was declined an interview. 

With a restorative dialogue session planned for March 21, members of AS will be able to discuss these recent tensions.