Even before fall classes began, three senators and an executive staff member vacated their ASUO positions.
The resignations, which happened within a two-week period, included Political Director Robert D’Andrea and Sens. Brennan Lowes, Tyler Griffin and Michael McInerney, who all cited personal issues and academic pressures as reasons for leaving.
Summer Senate Chair Kaitlyn Lange said that while Summer Senate was disappointing due to rampant absences and unfulfilled goals, she believes D’Andrea resigned for other reasons.
Lange blames recent resignations on “slates,” which are groups of students who campaign together and share similar ideals and political motivations.
In past years, a majority of prospective ASUO Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates formed their slates based off of an array of different criteria and used their slates as a way to collectively campaign.
“It’s a bad process. Everyone who creates a slate, they’re encouraging people to run who don’t want to run and don’t understand the process,” Lange said.
While Lowes and McInerney cited personal reasons such as schoolwork for their departures, Lange still believes they left the ASUO because they were ill-informed by their slate leaders about what being a Senator actually entailed.
“(They) didn’t quite understand the role Senate would have in day-to-day life,” Lange said.
Lowes and McInerney were both members of the Reality Check slate, which was led by last year’s ASUO executive hopefuls Alex McCafferty and Alden Williams.
Lowes was previously a member of Order of Omega, a leadership group for members of fraternities and sororities at the University, and held a leadership position within his own fraternity, Sigma Chi.
McInerney was a member of Delta Tau Delta and said that although he has respect for what Senate does, his academic workload kept him from participating. He declined to comment on the situation at large.
McCafferty said they were both introduced to the slate leadership by former Sen. Demic Tipitino, another member of Delta Tau Delta. Following the introduction, they applied to run as part of the Reality Check slate.
“They were all specific people in charge of vetting (Senate candidates) based on the application forms,” McCafferty said.
Tyler Griffin left for personal reasons that were not disclosed to the Emerald.
President Amelie Rousseau announced 10 days ago that Political Director D’Andrea would be stepping down. The original appointment was surrounded by controversy when Rousseau created the position for boyfriend D’Andrea after he advised her during the election.
As of deadline, the Emerald was unable to contact D’Andrea personally, but he said in a press release that his resignation was intended to avoid controversy impacting real issues Rousseau and her staff want to pursue this year.
“Dedicated student leaders need to focus on registering 6,000 University students to vote in this year’s pivotal election without this distraction,” D’Andrea said in the press release.
Lange said Rousseau and the Executive would advertise the open Senate seats in the Emerald and students can apply for them. They want students to apply by October 1.
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