On Wednesday, April 8, Student Government Association (SGA) senators ratified all six nominated SGA Cabinet members for the 2015-2016 academic year during the weekly session of Campus Council, which came after an initial postponement of proceedings due to the Finding Ways Forward talk given last Wednesday by Ombudsperson Chinyere Ukabiala. Every nominee was selected by SGA President-Elect Dan Davis ’16, VPAA-Elect Emma Lange ’16, VPSA-Elect Dixon Romeo ’16, Treasurer Ham Serunjogi ’16 and Administrative Coordinator-elect Mischa Rindisbacher ’16.

Nicole Albrecht ’16 and Nelson Ogbuagu ’16 were affirmed as the co-ACE Chairs for next year, Summer White ’18 was affirmed as Assistant Treasurer, Mark Spero ’16 was affirmed as Concerts Chair, Anita DeWitt ’17 as Diversity and Outreach Coordinator and Isabel Monaghan ’16 for Services Coordinator. All were affirmed unanimously after Davis described their respective achievements and qualifications. 

All of those nominated for their respective positions were the first selected, with the exception of the position of Concerts Chair. Evan Bruns ’16, who will be the KDIC station manager next year, was originally selected by the executives-elect for the position before turning it down due to the time that would be required to work both positions. Davis explained that during the selection process, input from the current Cabinet is taken into consideration while choosing next year’s Cabinet members, but that ultimate decision power lies with the five executives making the decision.

“The way that the Constitution is written gives the power to the execs to choose the Cabinet,” Davis said. “That being said, we definitely take the input of every coordinator and Chair that is on the current Cabinet … We take input from the current Cabinet very seriously.”

Davis explained that Bruns was selected for the position because of his extensive experience with KDIC, despite the fact that Bruns had no experience with the Concerts Committee prior to being chosen. 

“As far as the technical capabilities, the booking acts, Evan has had experience in all of those,” Davis said. “Evan and another student built the entire sound room in KDIC … He did not have any experience on Concerts Committee, which is something we weighed into the deliberation between him and Mark. It was the longest deliberation we had.”

They added that the eventual reason the SGA executives-elect decided to choose Bruns over Spero in the first round for nominations was because they were hoping Bruns would be able to bring in some new, fresh outsider perspective into Concerts. Ultimately, Bruns’ prior obligations with KDIC meant that he could not take the position, and he turned it down in favor of working as station manager of KDIC next year, while noting that there is no conflict of interest between working for KDIC and for SGA simultaneously.

“I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to pursue [Concerts] … considering my role at KDIC. We’re losing several senior staff, so it’s probably going to be a pretty rough semester for KDIC. … I decided to let go of the concerts position to pursue KDIC. Well, it was not really let go, it was more ‘not accept,’” Bruns said, in reference to the position of Concerts Chair. “KDIC actually has a policy that they don’t want the head of KDIC to be doing other stuff of that magnitude.”

Bruns added that the transition process was smooth, and that he didn’t believe there were any problems with Spero taking the mantle of Concerts Chair.

“I informed the Cabinet that I wasn’t going to be able to take the position, so I was pretty much out of the process at that point … I think that Mark is a great applicant who obviously has a lot more experience [with Concerts] than me and he’s got some good ideas,” Bruns said. “Mark Spero and I honestly see eye-to-eye on basically all issues.”

Violeta Ruiz Espigares ’15, the current Concerts Chair, explained in an email to The S&B that Spero had originally been her choice to succeed her in the position, and that she felt that committee chairs should have more input in the process of deciding their successors.

“Personally, I would have liked the hiring committee to seek more input from me (since I know pretty well what the position entails …) or other Concerts members about what the position is and all of its complexity, and not only just a name,” Ruiz Espigares wrote. “The re-selection process happened within a day and due to the quick process, Concerts didn’t participate in it.”

Ruiz Espigares added that in the end, she was pleased with the result and stated that she hopes things will go well next year for Concerts and SGA as a whole.

“It gets tough in SGA and everyone needs to support each other,” she wrote. “If not, it’s a mess.”

Spero noted that he has found the controversy over the Concerts Chair position to be distracting, and that he hopes to move beyond it to begin work in his position.

“I’ve been focusing more on moving forward, on being an appointee to the new cabinet,” Spero said. “I’ve been thinking more about how to work within Cabinet now. It’s an … incredibly hard decision for the President to make, and the whole process is hard.”

Davis said that they agreed that discussion about the appointment of Concerts Chair has distracted from the responsibilities and concerns of the position, and that they are confident in Spero’s abilities as Concerts Chair for the 2015-2016 academic year.

“Just because Mark was not the first nominee does not mean that I believe he won’t be doing a fantastic job … I am so excited to have him as the Concerts Chair,” Davis said. “I want to see Mark thrive.”