In the past two weeks, both ASUO Sens. Jeff Ewing and Molly Bacon have resigned from their respective seats.
Sen. Ewing, who occupied the graduate Senate seat, sent his resignation letter to fellow senators on the evening of Oct. 30, citing a recent opportunity to teach a class at the University of Oregon.
“Both my grad student/instructor duties and my ASUO duties will increase throughout the year, making the two less compatible over time,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
Sen. Bacon — who served in Senate seat 11, representing architecture, allied arts and journalism majors — resigned on Nov. 3, citing financial issues as the reason she would be unable to continue working for the ASUO Senate. Last year, she worked 20-hour weeks in order to maintain a sustainable level of finances.
She is concerned the stipend payments ASUO senators receive are not high enough to sustain low-income students.
“When you look at our pay in comparison to other student governments, ours is significantly lower,” Bacon wrote in her resignation letter. “Over the last two years of working in the ASUO, many students approached me interested in getting involved but realized it wasn’t possible because they couldn’t afford it.”
She asked the student body to consider this problem and seek solutions for the future.