Acting Student Government Secretary Cait Douglas is now the nominee to take over the position permanently and will be up for confirmation at one of the Undergraduate Senate's next two meetings, according to SG President Joe Vidulich.
Vidulich decided to nominate Douglas for the position after a selection committee favorably evaluated her and Seth Cutter, Undergraduate Senate clerk. The committee was mainly composed of people involved in the SG, but also included Jeff Bloom, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business, as a representative for the Residence Hall Association, he said.
Six people, including Douglas and Cutter, applied for the secretary position. The four people not favorably evaluated were not officially connected to the SG, although one had previously done volunteer work for former secretary Alex Manzanares, Vidulich said.
After the committee made its recommendation, Vidulich and SG Vice President Jeff Hanley met with Douglas and agreed Vidulich should nominate her, he said.
"The majority of people said that if they had to choose over the two, they'd choose Cait," Vidulich said. "There was a concern about the learning curve, and they felt that she was already doing an amazing job with communication. You could already see a difference between stuff she's communicated and stuff that previous people had communicated, so she was already doing a lot of the work and that made my choice easier, given that both of them were qualified candidates."
There was no way to include the election of a new secretary in the fall SG election because of the line of succession stipulated in the SG constitution approved by students three years ago. Under that line of succession, if the elected SG secretary is no longer able to serve, the president is specifically directed appoint a new secretary with the consent of the Undergraduate Senate, Vidulich said.
"The parliamentarian said it was my only option," he said.
Douglas said she had originally been conflicted about applying for the permanent position, but decided to apply because she had already intended to quit her job and felt taking on the role of secretary would be a good opportunity to contribute to the university.
The job thus far has been fun, but also a lot of work, she said.
"Overall, it's been a good experience," she said. "It'll be better - if the Senate confirms me - once I'm able sign my own request forms or be able to actually look at my cabinet and see who needs more support or if we need to create a new position within the Student Government to meet the needs of the secretary."
The four people not already directly involved in SG who had applied to be secretary will now be offered positions within the SG to start getting them involved and to bring fresh faces into the process, Douglas said. Vidulich and Douglas will be meeting with the four this week to find out how they would be interested in working with the organization, he said.
The Senate first heard about Douglas' nomination during their meeting Sunday. They are expected to vote on her confirmation at one of the next two weekly meetings, Vidulich said.
