UTEP Student Government Association (SGA) President Alex Rodriguez and Vice President of Internal Affairs Alejandro Balderrama-Sanchez have resigned from office The resignations came at the end of the weekly Fall Senate Session, Nov. 9. Rodriguez and Balderrama-Sanchez filled their roles for six months prior to the announcement of their resignation.
The resignations come as a surprise to many but during the SGA Facebook livestream, Rodriguez discussed the incident leading to his resignation.
“In the summer there was an incident involving alcohol in the office and everything was resolved,” Rodriguez said. “It was my understanding that we could move on from that but upon opening Alejandro’s investigation our advisors noticed that based off of what happened with me that I am also ineligible to hold office.”
Rodriguez was second to resign however, during his announcement to the Senate he mentioned his resignation came after an investigation into Vice President Balderrama-Sanchez. The investigation in question was brought upon Sanchez after unknown allegations were made.
“I have found victim of an unfair, unjustified and ill intended accusation,” Balderrama-Sanchez said. “I defended myself from those accusations, trusting in the university mechanisms to distinguish the truth from lies but those mechanisms failed.”
There has been no official statement on what accusation was made or when the investigations started.
Due to the resignations, the Senate held a special election Thursday, Nov. 16 amongst senators to see who would hold the positions of vice president of internal affairs and vice president of external affairs.
Edgar Loya won the election for vice president of internal affairs and Alexa Gonazlez was appointed to vice president of external affairs.
Rodriguez and Balderrama-Sanchez were elected last spring semester by the student body. Those chosen by their peers for this position can serve one full term.
UTEP SGA released this statement regarding the issue:
“Alex Rodriguez and Alejandro Balderrama-Sanchez resigned their positions as President and Vice President for Internal Affairs with UTEP Student Government Association, November 9, 2023. In accordance with the SGA Constitution, Article VI, Andrea Nunez, former Vice President for External Affairs assumed the office of President.
The Vice Presidents of Internal and External Affairs positions shall be filled by an election held from among the membership of the Senate. For the privacy of the individuals involved, no further information will be shared.”
There is no word yet on any future both Rodriguez and Balderrama-Sanchez will have with SGA.
The Prospector will continue to update this story as more information comes in.
Erik Acosta is the web and copy editor and may be reached at [email protected]
