Speaker of the Undergraduate Student Government senate Diana Carpio was removed Tuesday night following an anonymous vote of at least a two-thirds majority of senators excluding Carpio, according to a statement from vice president Brianna Sánchez to the Daily Trojan.

Despite being allowed to keep her position as a senator following the removal vote, Carpio told the Daily Trojan she plans to resign from USG as a whole, effective immediately.

“I think that the reason why I was removed was more for personal reasons than professional,” Carpio said. “All I’ve ever tried to do is support senators, including times [when] I’ve not felt supported by them, so I think I’ve done the best I could as a speaker, and to the next speaker, I wish nothing but good luck.”

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Carpio said the individuals she thought initiated the removal process had not addressed specific grievances with her, which she said negatively impacted the culture of USG.

“I’d hope that in the future, people … [are able] to really be straightforward with the next speaker and to be honest and transparent about what it is they’re feeling,” Carpio said.

In her statement, Sánchez — a member of the executive cabinet — said the executive branch does not have direct oversight over the removal process, limiting her knowledge on the removal.

“The decision of the senators to remove the Speaker will be respected and the proper procedure to elect a new Speaker will be followed,” Sánchez wrote.

Carpio said she is “not bitter about anything” and acknowledged the difficulty of the speaker of the senate role.

“It’s a lot of entertaining the interests of students, entertaining the interests of senators, entertaining the interests of [the executive] cabinet,” Carpio said. “It’s so many stakeholders … one person can [only] really have so much bandwidth to do it all.”

When asked about her legacy in USG, Carpio mentioned her work to reinstate the 24/7 Tommy Watch and her laundry stipend project, which received $4,000 of legislative branch funding through senate bill 144-11 on Oct. 22. Carpio said she hopes to be able to name her successor to lead the laundry stipend project.

During the meeting, the senate heard a presentation about the findings of a student survey regarding campus access from Patrick Done, an external affairs committee member and a sophomore majoring in political science who worked on the project.

The survey showed 75% of the 152 respondents do not want the barriers and checkpoints that were erected last semester to return in the spring. Nearly a seventh of respondents want the barriers to return, while 11.2% said they were unsure.

“This data, I think, paints a very vivid picture of how students at USC actually feel about these barriers,” Done said. “We hope that [the] USC administration will listen to this feedback.”

After authoring a resolution calling for a reform or removal of the barriers, which passed through the senate in the summer, senator Jeremiah Boisrond said he hopes the survey data will spur the University to take action.

“Historically, data is embedded into the resolution, however, because [the summer resolution] was the last senate meeting of the summer … we had to act,” Boisrond said. “This is just following through with that resolution to show administrators that this isn’t working, please reevaluate.”

Chief programming officer Hunter Black reported on upcoming programming assembly events. In response to a question about the Undocumented Trojan Success Assembly’s approval process, Black said the programming assembly vote of confidence concluded Tuesday night.

If the programming assembly’s vote of confidence passes with a two-thirds majority, the UTSA’s appeal to become an incorporated assembly will appear before the senate Dec. 3 following a report from Black.

In her report, Sánchez mentioned a solar panel umbrella and bench project that she is working on alongside president Bryan Fernández and reallocation efforts for USG funds. 

Sánchez said she is aiming for the reallocation to appear before the senate Dec. 3.

Senator Ali Bhatti presented his work on proposals to improve pickleball access after the courts adjacent to the Jefferson Boulevard Parking Structure permanently closed Sept. 16, add Raising Cane’s to the list of approved vendors for USC events and create a new TrojanLearn Module focused on the land history of the Kizh Gabrieleño.

Bhatti said the planned module will be mandatory for all students and between 30 and 40 minutes in length. In response to a question about concerns over the length of the module, Bhatti said he did not want to compromise the information provided in the module due to the sensitivity of the topic.

Accessibility committee chair Izzy Del Gaudio presented on the committee’s projects, which included an email template for students to use for accommodation requests to professors, an accessible yoga class, a rebranding of RestSC and the implementation of Speechify — a text-to-speech listening tool — for non-native English speakers with disabilities.

Chief communication officer Faiz Ahmed reported on the upcoming USG election and the intent to run application, released Monday. The intent to run is due Dec. 18, and the voting period will occur from Feb. 18 to 21, 2025.

Former affordability and basic needs committee chair Klarissa Palacios resigned Nov. 12 after being reinstated in a judicial council opinion released publicly earlier that day. The judicial council found her guilty on six of 22 charges brought by Fernández and Sánchez for attendance violations and indecent speech. 

The position is currently vacant, Sánchez told the Daily Trojan in a statement.

“Former Chair Palacios informed us of her resignation on the [Tuesday] following the judicial opinion, and we respected her decision,” Sánchez wrote. “We remain committed to ensuring that the Affordability and Basic Needs Committee has the necessary support to continue working on its important projects.”

Palacios was not available for immediate comment.