This Tuesday, the Associated Students, Inc (ASI) voted to remove Anthony Irias, Vice President of Finance, in their weekly board meeting after over an hour of discussion in a closed session. Three voted yes, one voted no and ten abstained. No public reason was given for the removal.
This is the second time this school year that ASI removed a member of the board. The last time was during the Tuesday, September 10th board meeting. The board voted 11-0-0 to remove Jose Carmona, Director for Stockton Campus, because he had missed 4 consecutive meetings. This meeting didn’t include a close session.
Anthony Irias was elected in April 2024 as the ASI Vice President of Finance. The Vice President of Finance serves as one of the executive directors of ASI.
In the published agenda for the Tuesday, March 4th, 2025 meeting, ASI had listed two items listed concerning removing Irias from the board.
“1. Approval to enter Closed Session to Discuss the Evaluation of the Performance of Anthony Irias, Officer of Associated Students, Inc.
(Only the Board of Directors, Board Staff, and specific invited individuals are allowed to attend and participate to discuss confidential information that is not open to the public)
2. Approval of the Removal of Anthony Irias as the Associated Students, Inc, Vice President of Finance
Presented by Miranda Gonzalez, ASI President
(Seeking approval of the removal of Anthony Irias as Associated Students, Inc, Vice President of Finance)”
The agenda does not list who brought the motion forward. Brenda Vega (Vice President, Broad Chair) read the motion off the agenda and had to wait for members to first and second the motion. Some had uncomfortable looks on their face when the motion to remove Irias was read.
According to section 4.5 of the ASI bylaws. a two-thirds majority of the board is required to remove a member of the board.
Many of the board members abstained from voting. Those who abstained were Brenda Vega (Vice President), Sierrah Stepps (Director for College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences), Colin Silveira (Director for College of Science), Alisah Siebler (Director for Graduate Students), Michael Angel (Director for Student Organizations), Manny Delgadillo (Director for College of Business Administration), Carmen Garcia (Director for Sustainability), Alejandro Garcia Del Rio (Director for Stockton Campus) and Diego Duran (Director for Housing and Residential Life).
Anthony Irias had to abstain from voting because the motion for removal involved him.
When emailed asking for why they abstained from voting only one member of board, Sierrah Stepps, replied, explaining why she abstained.
“I chose to vote this way because I couldn’t agree with either side of the discussion enough to oppose or deny the vote,” she wrote.
Diego Duran did respond to an email request for comment, but wished not to comment out of respect for Irias.
The rest of the board who abstained did not reply to email requests for comments by the time of publication.
With many members of the board abstaining, those that abstained weren’t considered in yes or no to reach the two-thirds to remove. Leaving 4 members of the board to make the decision on if Irias was removed.
One member voted no, which was Vikash Prakash (Director for Diversity). When asked for comment on why he voted the way he did, he said he had no comment because of the sensitive nature of the topic.
Three members of the board voted yes for removal. They were Miranda Gonzalez (President), Yesenia Cervantes (Director for College of Education, Kinesiology, and Social Work) and Dr. Heather Dunn Carlton (AVP, Dean of Students). Dr. Dunn Carlton has a permanent seat on the ASI board of directors.
When asked for comment via email, Yesenia Cervantes refused to comment on confidential matters.
“My decisions are always made with students’ best interests in mind, as I am committed to representing them and their needs,” she wrote.
She did add this about Irias.
“Anthony Irias is an outstanding individual, and I continue to hold him in high regard. I sincerely wish him the best in his future endeavors and thank him for his dedicated service on the ASI Board of Directors,” she wrote.
When asked for a comment, Dr. Dunn Carlton shared she couldn’t comment on confidential employee matters. Executive Directors serve as employees of ASI.
Miranda Gonzalez has not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.
After the vote, the manner in which the body voted was called into question by Cesar Rumayor (ASI & SC Executive Director).
“So, this is education for everyone. If you abstain, it means you are throwing away your vote,” he said. “So, in order to remove an officer you need two-thirds. By all of you abstain, the yes of which there were three, outweighs the one no.”
Rumayor didn’t respond to email requests for comment and clarification on the reason Irias was removed by the time of publication.
At the beginning of the meeting, multiple students showed up in support of Irias. Some of them got up and shared remarks during the open forum.
They spoke of how Irias has served in their fraternity, how he was a brother and a good leader.
When running for his position of Vice President of Finance, Irias stated the following in an Instagram post:
View this post on Instagram
After being elected, he shared why he joined ASI in September of 2024.
View this post on Instagram
According to ASI bylaws, “Vacancies in the Board of Directors shall be filled by appointment of the Board of Directors upon nomination by the President of the Board of Directors. Board of Director appointees complete the term of the vacated office.”
Before Irias was on the board of directors, he served as the ASI Executive Student Assistant.
ASI has not replied to requests for comment on what was going to be done with the open positions by the time of publication.
Anthony Irias was contacted for comment but has not replied by the time of publication.
Updated March 7, 2025: Graphic was added with how each board member voted. A spelling error was correct in Cesar Rumayor’s quote about the outcome of the vote. The spelling of two-thirds was also updated.
