Former Student Senate Vice President Donnie Kim confirmed Thursday that he resigned his seat in part because he was “tired of backdoor politics” and confirmed statements made on his behalf suggesting Senate President Athan Papailiou had pressured him on how to vote on issues before the Senate.
Kim resigned via e-mail Tuesday morning. Papailiou said Thursday that he will wait a week to accept the resignation, which he said is a Senate precedent, and Kim would still be “most welcome to return.”
Kim said his resignation was “effective immediately.” He said he resigned for “personal reasons,” but added, “I’m also tired of backdoor politics. I’m tired of being told what to think and how to think on that body.”
He said he had considered resigning both his position as vice president and his Senate seat “for a long time.”
“From the very beginning of this student government process I have been back-stabbed and politicked to death,” he said.
Discussion of Kim’s resignation dominated Wednesday’s Senate meeting, which was one of the more bitter and divisive sessions this year. Kim did not attend the meeting. Papailiou came an hour late because of a previous engagement. He had arranged for Kim to run the meeting and Kim had agreed before resigning.
Part of the discussion focused on Senate officer evaluations conducted by the personnel committee. Sen. Lauren Zavrel said Papailiou had expressed concern that Kim had a more favorable evaluation than he did.
Zavrel said the scores of different officers should not have been compared because they evaluate how well each performs according to job duties, not in comparison to one another. She also said Papailiou complained about Kim’s performance as vice president
Papailiou said he had misunderstood the evaluations. “Did I think he could have done a better job as vice president? Well, I think we could all do better,” he said in an interview. Kim later said the evaluations played no part in his decision to resign.
He said he thought the evaluations provided good feedback on how he could do a better job. He said the evaluations advised him to “make my opinion known to the other senators so they just aren’t being guided by Athan.”
The evaluation stated Kim “could be more vocal about his position as a resource to senators.”
Kim confirmed he had authorized Sen. Kate Jones to speak on his behalf at the meeting. He said her comments accurately reflected his concerns.
“He has felt a near-constant pressure to vote a certain way, pressure that has been brought on by our president,” Jones said.
Kim said he had grown close with Jones during his time in the Senate. “There are very few people I trust (in student government), and one of them is Kate Jones,” he said.
Several senators who were voted into office on the same slate as Kim and Papailiou dismissed the charges of political pressure, saying it was to be expected.
“Everyone feels pressured to vote a certain way,” Sen. Dan Feldman said. “I don’t feel pressure to vote a certain way is a reason to resign.”
Sen. Noor Rajabzedah said, “If you can’t handle the pressure of Senate, maybe you’re just a weak person, maybe you can’t think for yourself.”
Jones said the pressure was coming from the Senate president, who is supposed to remain neutral, and repeated that the pressure was “near constant.” She said Kim had even received “threatening” phone calls from Papailiou’s former running mate Sara Hamilton regarding issues before the Senate.
Kim verified this as well, saying it happened at the end of last year and in the fall. Sen. Lee Warnecke, who ran on Papailiou and Hamilton’s slate, said he had also received similar calls from Hamilton in the past.
Sen. Steven Wilsey also backed up claims of political pressure from Papailiou. He said that when he was up for confirmation before Senate, Papailiou told him he could be a “safe senator” and proceeded to tell Wilsey of an issue that would be voted on after he was confirmed and how Papailiou would vote on it.
Wilsey said this kind of “dirty politics” was one thing coming from a senator but another coming from the president, who was supposed to remain neutral.
Zavrel and Jones said Papailiou had assigned extra tasks to Kim that went beyond the scope of running one meeting. Papailiou maintained he only notified Kim of what could come up during the meeting and “provided him with all of the necessary materials.”
Kim said Papailiou regularly delegated to him tasks that were not part of his job description.
“Athan kept saying, ‘As the vice president, I think you should do this. It’s not in the rules, but I’m the Senate president and I think you should do this so I’m going to delegate it to you,’” Kim said.
Papailiou denied asking anything of Kim that was not a part of his job duties. He also denied any recollection of ever pressuring Kim to vote in any particular way on any particular issue.
“I would hope that Sen. Kim would be more specific in his claims. I never pressured him to vote any certain way,” Papailiou said. He said he sometimes talks to senators about topics related to student government and “philosophical issues” related to the ASUO.
“My conversations with him were no different than I have with everyone else,” he said.
Kim said he may appear at Senate meetings “from time to time.”
“I’m still going to voice my opinion when it needs to be heard,” he said. As for senators discussing his resignation, he said it was a waste of time.
“If people really want to know why I left, they can call me,” he said. “They have my number.”
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