Updated: Jan. 12 at 1:55 p.m.

According to Gonzalez, she is no longer able to attend the Appointments Committee meeting today but is still available to the committee or anyone else  with questions.  

On Thursday Student Body President Jackie Gonzalez appointed Anderson Shumate, a graduate student studying international studies and Gonzalez’s current romantic partner, for the vacated position of Chair of the Board of Elections through an executive order.

In a letter written to the Senate Appointments Committee describing the process she used to select a candidate for the position, Gonzalez, a fourth-year studying political science, confirmed that she and appointee Shumate are romantically involved.

“It would be wrong for me to write this without addressing the fact that Anderson Shumate is currently my partner,” Gonzalez said in the letter.

In an interview with Technician, Gonzalez said regardless of the nature of her relationship with the appointee she believes Shumate was the best candidate for the position and she does not consider the appointment a conflict of interest.

“I did not believe it is conflict of interest because for it to be a conflict of interest I feel like I would have to benefit from this in some way and I do not and he was a viable candidate,” Gonzalez said. “Anderson has had the experience of serving on the [Board of Elections] and he is probably one of the most ethical people I ever know and I am not the only one that can attest to that.”

According to the letter sent to the Senate Appointments Committee, there were a total of four candidates that Gonzalez contacted for consideration of the position. Gonzalez said she had two top candidates she was reviewing for the position, but one removed their name from consideration. She said she understands and expects there will be criticism from others in regards to her decision.

“I think that while on the face there is criticism, and I welcome that because I would also be critical,” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s absolutely necessary for our board to have a chair as we move into the spring elections cycle and to me it was more important for the board to have an ethical and strong leader to guide through the spring elections process with the advisers rather than to put on charade and appoint someone who might have not done as well of a job as I feel Anderson would be able to do.”

Gonzalez said, she worked with Senate President Mitchell Moravec, a fifth-year studying material science and engineering and psychology, to select an appointee for the position, but that there was not a designated timeline to follow.

“I was very transparent with Mitchell about this because typically when the Student Body President has time to appoint someone there is an amount of time you have to appoint that person before it expires and the appointment then goes to the Senate President,” Gonzalez said. “If the Senate President forgets, it just goes down a line. We didn’t have that timeline, or that mode of succession, for the board.”

According to Gonzalez, Moravec said that if someone has vacated a position the Student Body President is allowed to appoint through an executive order.

Because the appointment was made by Gonzalez as an executive order, Shumate’s position as Board of Elections chair is effective immediately. Per Student Body Statutes, executive orders may be overturned by the Student Senate upon a two-thirds majority vote at any Senate meeting.

The position, previously held by Anna Yarbrough, a fourth-year* studying applied mathematics and analytics, has been vacant since Nov. 28, 2017.

Gonzalez will be present at a meeting of the Appointments Committee today at 4:30 p.m. to answer any questions people may have regarding her decision.

*Editor’s note: This article was updated on Jan. 12 with the correct status of the former Chair of the Board of Elections.