By Michael Naughton
The Resident Student Association’s (RSA) Vice President of Finance Jason Russak resigned from his position last week.
Russak, a third-year junior biology major, cited his reason for resigning as having too much to do at once.
“I am a Resident Assistant, a biology major going pre-med and I will have to take the MCATs soon,” Russak said. “I resigned because I felt I was not able to fully fulfill my responsibilities as vice president of finance. I mean, I was getting the job done from week to week, but there was just too much on my plate.”
Since his freshman year, Russak has been involved in RSA, serving as assistant vice president for administration and then, in his sophomore year, vice president for administration. This summer, Russak was elected vice president of finance.
The responsibilities Russak will be leaving behind include chairing the finance committee, serving as the liason between RSA and the Student Activities Board and overseeing the flow of money in and out of RSA. The RSA money goes towards RA activities, residence hall equipment, RSA programs, such as Welcome Week, and other campus events.
The Student Government Association created a committee last year, chaired by Vice President for Financial Affairs Michael Benson, to examine how RSA was spending the Resident Student Fee. Benson cited as “lack of oversight” last year as the reasoning for monitoring the funds.
The committee was later dissolved by then SGA President Richard Schwab-acher, who said “the repercussions have not been indicative of what the committee was attempting to do.”
Benson, who holds a similar position as Russak, said he was unsure as to the reasoning behind Russak’s resignation.
“I am curious as to why he resigned,” Benson said. “It’s always unfortunate when one of my treasurers resigns or leaves. I would hope that any officer would think long and hard before taking a post like vice president.”
Russak is, however, planning on rejoining RSA next semester, but not as vice president of finance.
“I still plan on being involved in RSA, and I am running for general counselor next semester,” Russak said. “The job of being a student leader should be fun, and the job wasn’t fun for me anymore. Being a general counselor may bring that fun back to me.”
Russak said that despite losing his title, he feels that as a general counselor he can get as much done in RSA as he could as vice president of finance.
“I don’t think I will lose any type of power,” he said. “With my close ties, if I want something done, I can get it done as general counselor.”
One of the responsibilities that Russak had as vice president of finance was to oversee the money given to the halls for equipment. Some students believe that some of the halls were not in the best condition and could have been improved.
“I heard people complaining that the dorms were small, dirty and that there was always something going wrong in them,” said Jane Karpodbsky, a junior physical therapy major. “Of course more money should have been given to the halls, especially freshmen halls.”
Other students said the money allotted by RSA to the residence halls was adequate.
“In my hall they have had root beer pong tournaments and Halloween parties,” said Joe Gosselin, a freshman business major. “I have no complaints [about the funding].”
Benson chose not to comment at this time about whether or not Russak did an adequate job as RSA VP of finance and fulfilled all of his duties.
Russak plans to finish serving as vice president until the end of the semester.
