SGA President, Vice President of Operations, and Vice President of Academic Affairs resign – The Stute

During the weekly Student Government Association (SGA) Senate meeting on Sunday, October 4, Samantha Molla, President, Adrian Castellanos, Vice President of Operations (VPO), and Anthony Tesori, Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA), announced their resignation from their respective positions. With approximately only two months left in their term as officers, the three SGA Cabinet members left vacant spots during a time when many SGA Senators and members are voicing a desire to restructure the SGA, an idea that has been talked about for the past few years. At last nights Senate meeting, Sunday, October 18, E.J. Hannah, Emily Ng, and Gabriella Poska were elected into the Presidency, VPO, and Secretary positions, respectively.

Molla announced her resignation during the meeting on October 4 by stating that she will be resigning effective this week but that her time as President has been absolutely amazing, and its been a wonderful experience unfortunately its also been one of the most challenging years of my life probably; mental health has honestly been kind of at a low but I think that I need to take care of my well being, and I cant do that anymore in this role.

Similar to Mollas statements, Castellanos suggested a similar reason for his resignation. He voiced, I love this position, and I love what Ive been able to do, but in the past few months I have caused a lot of harm, and I dont think its necessarily right for me to still be in this role. Additionally, he made a point of apologizing to the D&I Committee, saying, I am sorry again to Nasir and D&I for those mistakes and those instances this organization needs to be restructured.

While Tesori was not present at the October 4 Senate meeting, Molla spoke on his behalf and announced his decision to resign. Unlike Molla and Castellanos who resigned immediately, Tesori will be resigning as soon as he can transition a replacement for VPAA.

During the SGA Senate meeting on September 27, one week prior to the meeting on October 4, Molla took time to read a statement of apology from the Cabinet that addressed and outlined mistakes, instances of complicit behavior, and abuses of power by the SGA Cabinet. The Cabinet described the statement as a way to take accountability for the hurt caused to members of the Stevens community.

A few specific situations detailed in the statement refer to social media disagreements over The Stevens Tea Instagram account, ignoring suggestions from Senator and D&I founder Nasir Montalvo to implement a Double A grading policy as an alternative to the Optional Pass/Fail policy last semester, and lack of communication between the SGA Cabinet and D&I when a wrongfully submitted Title IX report was made against Montalvo. Many other situations were outlined in the statement, including but not limited to an uncovering of past racist tweets and other specific instances of inappropriate behavior by individual Cabinet members.

The statement outlined that Rather than acknowledging and utilizing this criticism to better ourselves and the organization, members of the Cabinet inappropriately used their platform to try to silence Black students. This behavior perpetuated distrust and further illustrated the extent to which the organization has not been able to uplift Black students. The lack of response as an organization, along with the inappropriate responses by Cabinet members on their personal social media accounts and direct opposal of these actions to promise to better represent minority students, is inexcusable and exemplifies why underrepresented minority students, and especially Black students, feel discontent with the SGA.

During the meeting on October 4, Montalvo argued that while the statement is a good place to start to understand the events that transpired, there is a lot more to the story. He stated, Basically a lot of Black community members were harmed over several months, and it began with COVID-19, and basically not advocating on behalf of students who were suffering because of access, and a lot of the issues that arose after that had to deal with access and identity. I think its important to read that apology and then also speak to people who were in those situations.

While there has been no public statement by Molla, Castellanos, or Tesori that they were all motivated to resign because of issues outlined in the apology, Molla and Castellanos commented to The Stute their reasons for leaving. Molla expressed, This has been an incredible experience, but it has been incredibly chaotic and stressful. In resigning I hope we can show to the student body that the SGA is ready to move on and can hopefully learn from this experience and work towards improving the SGA in the future. Castellanos noted, This situation has been a lot for myself and other people involved, and I just didnt want it to continue bringing harm to me or anyone else.

The two remaining Cabinet members who have not resigned are Christian Bonavita, Vice President of Finance (VPF), and Hailey Tanner, Vice President of Student Interests (VPSI). During the Senate meetings general discussion period, Bonavita and Tanner were asked why they have chosen to remain in their positions. To this, Tanner was the first to respond that Right now, Christian and I are the only ones not stepping down I feel that because I was not directly involved, even though I know I couldve done better during the situation, to help those that were directly involved, I can better hold myself accountable and make up for those mistakes in the role rather than stepping down. Bonavita additionally added that personally, not speaking up when I saw some of these things happening is one of the biggest regrets of my life although I was not directly involved in these situations Ive already started implementing changes within the Budget Committee which is what I can control as the Vice President of Finance.

The announcement of the resignation of the three Cabinet members re-ignited the larger conversation about the structure of the SGA and how it serves students, which has been discussed many times over the past few years. During Mollas announcement of her resignation during the meeting on October 4, she expressed, I think that the SGA has a lot of potential, and we always do a lot of great things, but that it doesnt always have the best process in terms of getting to those great achievements.

However, no concrete plans have been proposed so far, and it is unclear if the ongoing restructuring talks will result in any changes. Many upperclassmen voiced concerns during the October 4 meeting that the proposition of restructuring the SGA is constantly brought up but never acted upon; however, many members argued that this time was the best opportunity to finally make changes. Castellanos noted, I dont think theres better timing working towards creating something new might be more effective. The biggest issue with the SGA structure is that one person should not be the voice for the student body. In agreement with Castellanos, Montalvo expressed that theres never going to be a point where its going to be easy to redo the constitution, and thats fine, because we need to do it weve been talking about restructuring or starting over the SGA since I was a freshman I dont want this to die after the discussion [tonight].

According to the SGA constitution, the next person in line to assume the presidency after the VPO is the Speaker; however, recently appointed Speaker, Kevin Gmelin, announced later that week that he would not be assuming the Presidency.

During last nights Senate meeting on Sunday, October 18, a special election was held to fill the role of President for the rest of the semester, as well as other vacancies in the SGA Cabinet. The candidates for President were Senators Emily Ng and E.J. Hannah, and Hannah won the special election to assume the presidency. Ng was then elected as VPO, and Gabriella Poska, a member of the SGA Budget Committee and Business Manager for Stevens Dramatic Society, was appointed as Secretary.

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SGA President, Vice President of Operations, and Vice President of Academic Affairs resign - The Stute