Updated as of 7:14 p.m. on Nov. 7 to include a confidential source within SGA.
Elon University’s Student Government Association’s Vice President of Finance senior Gabby Gutiérrez faced an impeachment vote Nov. 2 after Student Body President Britt Mobley and Speaker of the Senate Chloe Higgins filed a formal judicial complaint, according to a statement sent to Elon News Network Nov. 7 from the SGA executive team.
The details and discussions from the closed hearing are confidential, according to the statement.
A student in SGA, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the participants at the hearing were told not to talk about it.
“We were told we can’t talk about it, which is unfair to us and unfair to the student body because they have a right to know about important things like this,” the source said.
The source said the complaint involved Gutiérrez not fulfilling her responsibilities in her role as an executive member of SGA.
“It just seems like an interpersonal conflict that got out of hand and unnecessarily escalated,” the source said.
The SGA Constitution outlines the removal of the vice president of finance as needing a three-fourths vote of the present Senate. According to the statement, at the Nov. 2 hearing, Gutiérrez was found “not responsible” with a 28-10 vote, just one vote short of the three-fourths requirement of 29 votes.
The source said the time between when the complaint was filed on Oct. 26 to the hearing on Nov. 2 was not long enough for proper deliberation.
“While this had been allegedly a long time coming, it all happened way too fast,” the source said.
The hearing was seven hours long, ending around 1:45 a.m. Because it was so long, some members ended up leaving early and not voting. The source said the hearing consisted of going through evidence presented, which included texts and emails among the executive staff.
Both Gutiérrez and Mobley declined to comment outside the official statement.
“As an executive team, we are dedicated to addressing both challenges and opportunities moving forward and representing the student body to the best of our abilities throughout the remainder of our term,” Mobley wrote in the statement.
The next SGA meeting is 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 in Moseley Student Center.