Seven students have resigned from the Undergraduate Council of Students this semester, marking an uncharacteristically high turnover rate for the representative body.
The seven resignations comprised three officer positions and four class representative positions.
"I can only speak of my three years in UCS, but I haven't seen a turnover like this in such a condensed period of time before," said UCS President Joel Payne '05.
Schuyler von Oeyen '05, UCS alumni liaison, agreed that the scale of departures f was unprecedented. "I don't think we had as many resignations the whole of last year," he said.
Payne pointed to a variety of reasons for the large number of resignations, including health, personal and academic issues. "There was one member who left to study abroad, and there were a lot of younger members who weren't ready for the kind of commitment that UCS requires," he said.
In internal elections, the vacant officer positions were filled by then-class representatives. The vacancies for representatives were opened to the entire student population.
"The elections were fully legitimate, and were run according to what is specified in the UCS constitution," said UCS Communications Chair Zachary Townsend '08, a Herald copy editor and former associate member who was elected to his executive board position in the internal elections.
Von Oeyen said the high turnover rate has had a disruptive influence on the workings of UCS this semester. "Yes, I certainly think it's been difficult. Ari Goodstein's ('06) resignation was especially difficult because he was the Admission and Student Services (Committee) chair. The chairs of the committees have priorities and tangible issues to tackle, and it's tough for someone else to come in and take over," he said.
In an e-mail announcing his resignation to other officers, Ethan Wingfield '07, the previous communications chair, highlighted positive changes on campus but voiced his unhappiness with some of the workings of the council, noting "the fall semester saw a decline in the effectiveness and direction of UCS." He added he was resigning due to his other commitments, saying, "I cannot effectively help lead two organizations, run a company and excel in my coursework."
Wingfield runs élan, a Web development firm which lists UCS Appointments Chair Ben Creo '06, Townsend and Cash McCracken '08, the UCS secretary, as associates.
One member who resigned, speaking on the condition of anonymity, expressed his frustration that the council was overly focused on internal matters in the fall semester. "The emphasis in UCS was on being a family and being well-connected, but we weren't really getting anything done. We were focused on reforming the elections process and completely internal matters, but there were still problems on campus, like summer storage and student groups that lacked funding, and these weren't being addressed by UCS," he said.
Another member cited her over-involvement with other activities as one of the factors in her decision to resign. "I was really involved with a lot of other activities, and it got to the point where I had meetings every day. I thought somebody else could do a better job," said Katrina Chang '07, who was a class representative last semester.
Townsend said the resignations may have necessitated improvements in the council and was optimistic for the future. "These resignations really opened the eyes of UCS, and we take the resignations very seriously. It's a shame it needed something like this, but I think things are really changing this semester," he said.
His fellow officer was more cautious, but signaled a desire to move on. "I do think the retreat we had earlier this semester was helpful. Things are slightly uneasy, but slowly improving," von Oeyen said. "Now that we've worked out some of the kinks, we need to have teamwork to do things."
Payne also voiced his optimism for the future direction of the council. "I would say morale is very, very good. I know it's hard to believe from an outsider's standpoint, but it's as high as it's been all year. The people we have are more experienced now, and ready to commit," he said.
Despite the high turnover rate, Payne said UCS would remain focused on a number of its "top priorities."
"We are working to bring kegs on campus, provide printing to students where they won't have to pay money and to create a steering committee for the campus region plan," he said.
