Student Senate director of administration Andrea Jara Reyes resigned from her position before Monday’s Student Senate inauguration, less than two weeks after she was elected.
Jara Reyes won the election for the position on April 5 by securing 53.2 percent of the valid vote. Jara Reyes, a junior marketing and entrepreneurship major, cited the time commitment as the reason for her resignation.
“I realized [with] my schedule next semester [I] was not going to be able to give it my all,” Jara Reyes said.
Jara Reyes said she wanted to be able to do the best work she could in the job, which would not be possible.
“I could have given the minimum, but that wasn’t the point,” Jara Reyes said. “I really wanted to give my full potential. The only reason why I joined is because I want to have an impact here on campus.”
New president Megan Brezka said the time availability was an issue of concern for Jara Reyes from the beginning.
“Before she had taken up my offer to join our ticket, this was something that we had discussed in length and she felt comfortable with the time commitment I had presented of what a weekly time commitment would look like,” Brezka said.
It wasn’t until a meeting with this year’s director of administration, Nolan Ruthe, that Jara Reyes knew it would be an issue.
“After a conversation between her, the current director of administration Nolan Ruthe and myself last week, where he just outlined all his duties and his time commitment for like a general month, it seemed to me like she was on board with it,” Brezka said. “I guess after more contemplation [about] how would this role really fit into her schedule, she came to the conclusion she would not be able to dedicate as much time as this position would require.”
Brezka said she is not worried about moving forward and has already asked the former speaker of the assembly to apply for the position.
“I have personally reached out to Andrew Yohannan,” Brezka said. “I feel like he would be a sublime candidate, as well as a couple others that I know are interested.”
Other three officers were installed on Monday. Brezka is the new president, Pierre Paul is the new speaker of the assembly and Emma Hoyhtya is the chief of staff.
Students interested for the director of administration position have until April 24 at 5 p.m. to gather 150 signatures of current students and return them to Student Senate adviser Tom Coy. Those that have the required number of signatures will be invited to Student Senate General Assembly on April 29 to offer a brief speech. After all the candidates speak, Senate will vote via secret ballot. If anyone has questions about the position, they can contact Brezka at mbrezka@mail.bradley.edu.
