The students’ choice for executive vice president, Chris Lange, will remain out of office this semester. Angel Barajas, the runner-up, will take his place.

Barajas was sworn in June 1 after Shirley Uplinger, vice president of student affairs, declared Lange academically ineligible. The decision was finalized after Patricia Worley, executive director of Associated Students, determined to swear in Barajas to the vacated position.

Lange did not meet the minimum grade requirement by the deadline to take office.

ASI bylaws require a candidate to have a minimum overall GPA of 2.5 to run for office and take office. It also requires that students maintain their GPA while in office.

Worley said that there are three grade checks for candidates running in ASI elections. The first takes place during the election and only includes the candidate’s GPA for the last two semesters. The second check comes if a candidate enters into office. Then the most recent semester’s grades are looked at.

“In Lange’s case, his GPA allowed him to run in the elections last spring, but did not meet the minimum requirements to assume the executive vice president position once grades came out,” Worley said.

A final checkpoint for all board of directors will come in the middle of their term.

“It is not unusual that every year we have at least one, often times two candidates, that are elected to office but can not take office after the eligibility checks,” Worley said.

The Appellate Council was also addressed on the issue and ruled in favor of ASI. The council decided Lange did not meet these grade requirements and declared him ineligible to hold the position of executive vice president.

“There is no appeal process,” Barajas said. “Chris cannot be reinstated and even if he could, why would students want him reinstated if he can’t balance school, athletics and classes with an officer position in ASI — an $8.9 million corporation?”

Lange said that isn’t a problem and that he met the minimum GPA requirement by the deadline.

Lange had a grade change pending the week before June 1. With the change, Lange’s overall GPA is 2.68, above the university’s 2.0 requirement.

“I had no control over how long it takes to process a grade change,” Lange said.

He said he told ASI about the pending grade change when he originally applied for vice president of finance.

Lange said ASI knew he had the grades to hold office and that he had them for the previous 12 months it was required.

“The members of the yellow slate did not have their grades checked until Aug. 12, the day the board of directors got sworn into office,” Lange said. “Even though my grade change came after June 1, they checked grades on Aug. 12 and that was months after I met the GPA requirement.”

Some members on the board of directors also disagree with the interpretation of ASI rules and are against the change in officers. Jessica Gomez, director of business; Lisa De La Rue, director of social studies and interdisciplinary studies; Kelly Hudnall, director of arts and letters; and Carly Grassinger, director of undeclared, want the board of directors to remove Barajas and wish to see Lange “rightfully placed in office to serve the students of CSUS as elected,” in a widely distributed letter sent Aug. 31.

Gomez, De La Rue, Hudnall and Grassinger all ran for their offices last semester under the yellow slate.

These members of the board of directors believe that “nowhere in the association bylaws does it state a specific date that eligibility requirements must be met … .”

According to the letter, Barajas was never elected to the position of executive vice president, and his appointment was not approved by the ASCSUS Board of Directors. The letter also states that Worley gave an insufficient answer when asked why she let this occur.

“Angel Barajas has never been elected to the position of executive vice president, and neither was his appointment approved by the ASCSUS Board of Directors. Executive Director Patricia Worley, when asked why she let this occur, her answer was insufficient … .” the directors of the yellow slate wrote.

“No one contacted me from ASI to let me know the decision was overturned,” Lange said.

He also said the process of removing him was not done correctly.

“The position should have been vacated and (ASI President) Josh Wood should have appointed the next person after the board of directors voted on the next person to fill my spot,” Lange said. “There was no vote.”

Sac State’s election code states that the ASCSUS Board of Directors must approve a vacancy.

Wood was unable to be reached for comment at press time.

Barajas said he wants to move on.

“As of now, I do not see slates anymore,” Barajas said. “That has been over since elections. We’re moving forward. We have an agenda.”