Student Federation Executive Director, Chair resign

USD’s Student Government Association (SGA) President Ally Feiner found herself in a new position last Sunday when the Student Federation Board of Directors named her the Interim Executive Director.

The decision came after an email from then Student Federation Executive Director Zebadiah Johnson and Chair Elizabeth Benzmiller that included letters of resignation to the Board of Directors.

“(The Executive Director) basically told me that, you know, since he resigned, he’s not going to be completing any of the duties, and that he will transition whoever gets the position,” Feiner said. “And so I took it upon myself to just send out an email link so that all the board of directors can meet and then just kind of figure out what our next plan of action was to go through the election process. And since I’m the ‘unfortunate’ person who sent out the email link, then it ended up being me as interim.”

Feiner said there wasn’t a reason given for the resignation, and The Volante received no response to an interview request from either Johnson or Benzmiller. 

“They emailed both of us their letter of resignation,” Feiner said. “They didn’t really give a reason, they just mainly just thanked us for the opportunity and decided to resign.”

The resignations come following a vote of no confidence from the USD SGA concerning the work being done by Johnson and Benzmiller. The resolution, Senate Resolution 7, didn’t call for resignations, Feiner said.

“It was basically to make them realize, we understand that you aren’t feeling super confident with our process right now,” Feiner said. “We need to get our butt in gear and figure out our communication avenues and ensure that we’re representing the students to the best of our ability. That’s basically what the intent was behind it.”

Feiner is holding the position until a special election is held Oct. 28. This election will name a new executive director and chair for the federation. 

“Every regental university had the opportunity to send in nominations to my email by yesterday (Sunday) at midnight,” Feiner said. “They had to send in their resume and then their statement of intent, basically a page about why they feel like they’d be good at the position. I received two of them, one for each position, and then we will be having our official elections on Thursday where those who sent in their nomination forms will be officially voted on.”

Since there is only one candidate for each position, the vote will be one of approval. If both candidates are approved, they will immediately jump into their roles. 

“So basically they will just start the position, then I’m gonna give them the contact info for the old executive director and the previous chair,” Feiner said. “They said that they would be happy to do transitions with the new positions. I’m hoping that works out well, that they can find a time to do a transition and then from there, it’s their position and they’ll be our new leadership moving forward.”

Feiner said she never really dove into the position itself and the work included in it knowing she would only hold the position for 11 days. The special election for a new Student Federation executive director and chair are being held Thursday, and if approved, the candidates will take office at that time.