Student Government Secretary Faith Rokowski announced Monday that she will resign her position on the SG executive board effective Sept. 1. With the new opening on the board, President Devontae Torriente will appoint a replacement to be confirmed by the Undergraduate Senate once it is in session.
Rokowski’s resignation comes four months after she took office, having defeated former secretary Martin Valderruten by more than 200 votes in April. She has played several roles in SG since joining the organization her freshman year, most notably as former President Sasha Gilthorpe’s chief of staff. She’s resigning on account of her “personal well-being,” stating that her work in SG, combined with her other commitments, has taken a toll on her in the past two years.
“When I ran, and when I won, I [felt] like I knew what I was getting myself into and I knew what I’d be expected to do,” Rokowski said. “But, after so long of just ignoring my own well-being and putting this organization ahead of it, my brain said, ‘No, I’m done with that!’”
Rokowski made her final decision last Tuesday and notified the rest of the executive board on Thursday. She believes “professional disagreements” between her and the other members of the executive board hurt their working relationship during her time in office. For this reason, she appointed her associate secretary, Kris Schneider, as her equal for the rest of her term to improve communication between her and the rest of the executive team.
“I think she decided to go in a direction that is not only what she figured would be best for the organization, but is best for her personally,” Torriente said. “So I think it’s a decision that we’re going to support wholeheartedly.”
Since taking office, Rokowski has spearheaded SG’s marketing during Eagle Summit, started expanding the organization’s website and supervised the redesign of the Jobs Board. She will spend the rest of her term finishing these projects. Using Rokowski’s input to make his decision, Torriente will interview and appoint her successor by Sept. 1.
“It’s very important that we have a cohesive team moving forward and we’re definitely building that, and I think we have done a good job at building that,” Torriente said.
