Current ASSU Executive Chief of Staff Emma Ogiemwanye ’12 will be stepping down in January to spend winter quarter abroad. The ASSU is “in the process of selecting someone to fill [the] role for winter quarter,” Ogiemwanye said in an email to The Daily.

 

When asked if he thought the mid-year shift would disrupt the ASSU Executive’s operations, ASSU President Michael Cruz ’12 said he was not concerned.

 

“Emma has done a very good job of laying really good groundwork and a foundation to ensure that – while she will be missed personally – the work that the ASSU has been doing will continue,” he said.

 

Ogiemwanye’s resignation comes after a series of shake-ups in the ASSU Executive team this fall. In October, E2.0, a branch of the Executive formed to advocate for student social entrepreneurs, separated from the ASSU with the resignation of both ASSU Co-Chairs of Entrepreneurship Dan Thompson ’13 and Jon Manzi ’13. Most recently, Chair of the Community Action Board Aracely Mondragon ’13 resigned, citing personal reasons.

 

To find Ogiemwanye’s replacement, Cruz said “there will be an open application process, but we’ll also be looking heavily at candidates that we have already received applications from for previous roles.”

 

The abrupt change in the ASSU Executive team follows a recent debate in the ASSU over the permissibility of going abroad while serving as an ASSU representative. In spring of 2010, Ben Jensen ’12, a recently-elected Senator for the upcoming academic year, enrolled in the fall 2010 Bing Overseas Studies Program in Berlin – despite the fact he had already signed a declaration that said he intended to be on campus all year.

 

When the issue came to light, Jensen eventually withdrew from the fall program and decided he would apply for the Berlin program for the following spring quarter, which he did ultimately attend. The 12th Undergraduate Senate ratified a bill that would prevent Senators from spending time abroad or off-campus for an extended period of time, effective with the 13th Undergraduate Senate, which took office last spring.

 

The decision is made more significant because members of the ASSU Undergraduate Senate and the Executive are paid stipends.

 

Although the Chief of Staff position ordinarily receives a personal stipend of $2,500, Ogiemwanye said she “won’t be paid since I won’t be here and won’t be working.”

 

Cruz and Vice President Stewart Macgregor-Dennis ’13 appointed Ogiemwanye to the Executive team last spring.

 

Cruz said that, following “a very, very intensive application process” in which “we received a lot of applications,” he and Macgregor-Dennis appointed Emma because “she was the most qualified and the best balance for our ASSU Executive.”

 

When asked if he knew, at the time, that Ogiemwanye planned to go abroad, Cruz said, “It was a discussion we had entered into.”

 

Cruz declined to say whether or not Ogiemwanye will resume her position once she returns to campus in the spring.

 

“That’s a bridge we will cross when we get to it,” he said.

 

Although the responsibilities of the ASSU Chief of Staff shift year-to-year as decided by the President and Vice President, Cruz said that he and Stewart see Ogiemwanye as “a third partner in the ASSU Executive.”

 

The Chief of Staff acts as “the chief administrative officer of the ASSU executives,” Cruz added.

 

Ogiemwanye described her position as “making sure that all the cabinet chairs are working on the things that they committed to working on…You make sure that everybody’s talking.”

 

At the time of her appointment, Ogiemwanye was in Washington D.C. She said she “participated in hours of Skype meetings” to fulfill her initial responsibilities.

 

Ogiemwanye added that acting as a representative away from campus “was difficult” and required her to fly “back from Washington to conduct interviews for the cabinet.” She said it was manageable, however, because the ASSU was still in the planning stages.

 

“At this point, my work cannot be done well remotely,” she said.

 

“Emma is an amazing person, and we picked her because she was the best and most qualified,” Cruz said. “It will be difficult to fill those shoes, but we’ll manage.”