Dolan resigns presidency

For the second time in as many years, a top Student Government Association (SGA) official has submitted their resignation.

The first occurred when last year's vice president, Bianca Rhodes, unsuccessfully attempted to resign through an e-mail she sent to student government members. SGA members denied the resignation based on the format in which it was distributed.

Joseph Dolan, this year's SGA president, announced during last Thursday's meeting that he would no longer reside over the body.

Dolan did not return any calls from the University Chronicle by publication Sunday night, but all sources said the reasons behind the resignation were personal.

SGA senator Nathan Scheiber said nothing specifically led up to Dolan's actions.

"It hurt him to resign," Scheiber said. "He enjoyed the position, and it didn't have anything to do with the organization."

Dolan's resignation came after three senators had already left their positions. Former SGA members Cory Fechtellkotter, Cassandra Bixler and Vanessa Birkle resigned earlier in the semester.

Vice president Dana Kutcher has already assumed the role of president.

Scheiber said the SGA constitution calls for internal elections to fill the vacant vice president position, which will be conducted in January after the spring semester starts. The position is open for any student and applications are being accepted.

Senator Ryan Birkman said Dolan's leaving did not come as a surprise.

"Lately, we've been sort of stoic as far as resignations go," he said. "It's a stressful job. It wasn't sudden, but at the same time, nothing specific led up to it."

Birkman said he hopes to see student government move in a more cohesive direction that would avoid the problems the organization is having between some of its members.

"It's not that we aren't getting anything done," he said. "It's just more stressful to get them done. Partisan politics has hit home in our student body."

He said the divisiveness between members and the stress of the job may have caused Dolan to rethink his position.

"It's hard to reside over a divided senate," Birkman said.

He and other SGA members are now looking to what they hope to accomplish next semester under new leadership.

"I hope to see us move in a direction where we are solely serving our students instead of allowing outside politics to interfere," Birkman said. "Some people are paying a little too much attention to what other campuses are doing."

He said the changes under Kutcher would help achieve these goals.

"Joe and Dana have different styles. Neither one is right or wrong, but I think Dana will be more effective at calling people out of order if they're being out of order," Birkman said. "Joe is more of the type who didn't want to ruffle any feathers."

Kutcher said the timing of the resignation works to their advantage so that a new vice president could be trained in over the winter break. The break will also give her time to ease into the position of president.

"I want to stabilize the body," she said. "Our senate, our chairs, and all of our members will be able to find their niche. It's just a matter of finding projects for them to work on."

Kutcher also highlighted the difference between herself and former president Dolan.

"I have a very different leadership role than Joe," she said. "The senate's young, they need leadership, and that's one way that Joe and I differ."

The focus of next semester will be to involve the campus community in decisions and resolutions SGA is working on. Kutcher said the problem is not enough students take the effort to become involved. Student apathy and the recent resignations of three senators, have been a roadblock Kutcher is determined to pass."Our college senator seats are where we are getting hit the hardest and we need students to step up," Kutcher said. "We haven't been seeing the interest that I would expect from a campus this size. Students should hold the administration accountable; they should hold student government accountable."

She said one area that needs improvement is the weekly meetings, which currently last several hours. Kutcher wants all of the senators to be informed about topics they will be discussing before the meetings to avoid lengthy debates.

Kutcher said the campus community should be seeing a lot more progress coming from the student government office in the following weeks and into next semester.

"Look for more action," she said. "We have a lot of very important things going on right now. If any student is interested in what we do, all they need to do is stop by our offices. There is someone here all the time. I'm here most days until the maintenance people kick me out."