A Student Government senator authored articles of impeachment against Sen. Christian Sears following the spread of screenshots of his messages with a former student via social media.
@ExposeTXST, an anonymous Twitter page “dedicated to representing and reporting the mistreatment of marginalized students at Texas State,” released a series of messages between Sears, former vice-presidential candidate and senator-at-large, Stephanie Marie Sauceda, an alumna who is now a high school teacher, and her cousin, Christina Sauceda. The conversations came directly from Facebook and its Messenger app.
The Twitter account that leaked the messages, as well as several students including Sen. Elijah Miller, are calling for Sears to step down or face impeachment. During Student Government’s April 2 meeting, two students came up to the podium to share their grievances and asked for the resignation of Sears.
“Student leaders are expected to hold themselves to a higher standard, and it is shockingly apparent that Sen. Sears is unable to do so,” Miller said. “His comments were abhorrent and reprehensible, to say the least. Leadership goes beyond public life. It also encompasses how one decides to conduct themselves in private.”
Miller drafted articles of impeachment against Sears April 2. He has yet to present them to Student Government.
The articles of impeachment will be convicting Sears on violation of ethical standards, as stated in the Texas State University Constitution.
“I’m still getting confirmation as to when I will be reading the articles but hopefully it will be by next Monday, at the latest,” Miller said.
Sears said the altercation started on Facebook about a politically sensitive matter.
On his Twitter page Sears said he has filed a police report with the University Police Department, whom allegedly said it looked like a case of slander and libel, according to Sears.
“I’m the one being harassed,” Sears said. “I asked her to stop several times. If a woman says she was harassed and it involves a male politician, then you’re screwed.”
Stephanie said it all started with Christina posting a comment on a Facebook post about women being able to remove their shirt in public. Sears displayed his disagreement with Christina’s comment to the post, sparking the issue. Once people started to call him out in public, he privately messaged Christina within 24 hours.
“This came out of nowhere. I was shocked, honestly,” Christina said. “We actually went to high school together and met to through a mutual friend. We were like best friends. But he’s always had a bad attitude and we would bicker a lot.”
Sears messaged Stephanie after she posted his words against Christina on the Student Government page, according to Stephanie. In the messages, Sears referenced Christina’s family in a negative light.
Stephanie said she was contacted by university administrators who are collecting data and they will be opening an investigation in the near future. Christina filed a harassment complain to the police the day Sears messaged her but has not heard back from them since.
“I don’t believe he should be in charge of anything,” Stephanie said. We won’t be taking legal action but we will continue to post, inform the public and hope that appropriate actions will be taken by university leadership. He messed with the wrong girl and I will not be silenced.”
This story was updated April 3 to reflect new information.