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SACAB representative resigns over SGA conflict, lack of focus
By Geof Wollerman
gwollerm@mscd.edu

Longtime Student Government Assembly member Jordan Bair unofficially announced her resignation at the Sept. 20 senate meeting, citing the ongoing dispute about the vacant vice president’s seat as one of the reasons for her departure.

Bair made the unofficial announcement after more than an hour of questions and debate about why the SGA president, Jack Wylie, has not been able to fill the seat, which remains empty after more than three months.

She told SGA members she was resigning because of the infighting among members and derided the assembly for being unorganized and spending too much time arguing about semantics.

Bair has been a member of SGA for over a year and a half, and for the past four months she has been the SGA’s representative to the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board. She submitted her official written resignation to SACAB on Sept. 21.

At the meeting she told the assembly that every one of them, including her, were guilty of the negligence Wylie was being accused of.

“I feel that it’s truly sad that we’ve spent over an hour and a half tearing apart one of our peers,” Bair said. “If you wanted to ask me what I’ve been doing with SACAB … I can guarantee you that you’d have reason to ask me to leave.”

Bair said the SGA seems to have lost focus and that it no longer represents the students it was elected to serve.

“The problem is that we aren’t getting the message. We aren’t working together and we don’t have a cause. We aren’t fighting for anything right now,” she said.

There are serious issues on campus right now related to Metro’s upcoming accreditation process that the SGA is ignoring in favor of “focusing on a line item once in a while,” Bair said.

She also pointed to several other situations that had contributed to her resignation. She said the SGA had taken on too much when they decided to restructure the committee hierarchy earlier this year. There was also the lack of response from other members regarding important committee issues. Bair also cited an incident during which “improper things” were said in front of a guest speaker that left her “personally embarrassed,” and contributed to her leaving.

“I felt like my reputation was hurt, and that’s not acceptable ... it also makes student government look really bad.”

As Bair spoke, several SGA members nodded their heads, while others raised their hands in protest.

After her initial comments, the interim vice president, Carlos Lopez – whose stalled nomination has been the catalyst for the recent controversy – knocked four times on the table in front of him, signaling his solidarity with Bair.

Senator Oscar Peña told Bair she represented the student body well and asked her to reconsider her resignation. He said that if it was help she was looking for, he was willing to do what he could.

Several members said they were offended by Bair’s remarks and felt she was unfairly attacking them and the hard work they put into the SGA.

Senator Akaduchieme Kendrick Odifu-Egbune said it was not Bair’s place as a representative of SACAB to comment on and criticize the work of the SGA.

“I think to quit even after a year and a half is short sighted. It’s not going to change overnight,” said Student Trustee Brian Glotzbach.

Jesse Samora, the speaker of the senate, said he has worked with Bair “since day one,” and told her she was one of the best representatives the SGA has ever had. He offered anything the SGA body could do to make her reconsider her resignation.

“You’re the type of student that this school needs in a position like this,” Samora said. “So I would ask you personally … to reconsider.”

Bair was not swayed.

The meeting quickly turned into a discussion about whether the SGA had accomplished anything for students and whether Bair was justified in making her comments. The assembly then moved on to reviewing committee reports.

After the meeting Bair said she thought one of the problems the SGA is having is that not enough of the general student population is getting involved.

“I think just about everybody on campus should be held accountable,” Bair said. “It’s the student population’s job to make sure that their voices are being heard through student government by contacting us and saying ‘I have an issue,’” she said.

Bair’s unexpected resignation leaves the SGA with another vacant seat.

Wylie said he wished Bair wasn’t leaving and that her seat’s vacancy would create another difficulty for the assembly, but that they would work with what they have.

“We’ve functioned with vacant positions before and we’ll do what we need to do to get things done,” Wylie said.

Blaine Nickeson, a program director for Student and Auxiliary Services who has worked with Bair since she began at Metro, said he was disappointed to hear about her announcement. He said he believed it was Bair’s enthusiasm about campus issues over the years that led her to take up the role as a SACAB representative.

“It’s unfortunate to see somebody who is as passionate as they are about student advocacy and in such a high profile role (leave)… the loss there is hard to overcome,” Nickeson said.