Executive directors resign from GRC
Spencer Wilkinson and Shai Spangler entered this academic year excited for new leadership opportunities as executive directors on the Utah State University Government Relations Council. However, in March, they both decided to resign one month premature to the end of the academic year.
Aside from Spangler and Wilkinson, four other GRC members have formally resigned as of April 9.
Wilkinson was the events director of the GRC and claimed there were many failures in the leadership of the executive directors.
“At the beginning of the year, the directors all sat down, and we outlined our goals for the year,” Wilkinson said. “We outlined our four pillars. I can confidently say I don’t remember what any of these pillars are, and I think that’s a really negative thing.”
Spangler noted that even though Wilkinson was the events director, he never planned an event during his time with the GRC.
Spangler was the director of government affairs and ran against current Student Advocate Vice President Colin Hastings in the most recent USUSA Elections. Spangler lost to Hastings, who was reelected for a second year.
The student advocate VP chairs the GRC and serves as a member of the USUSA Executive Leadership Board.
During the election cycle, Spangler cited incidents of bullying and bickering without specifics. Hastings claimed he was unaware of such incidents.
“Neither myself, my advisor, or our department received any reports of bullying, unpleasantness, or bickering until these resignations,” Hastings wrote in an email to The Utah Statesman. “Reports of bullying were also only raised in two resignations, and no specific instances were ever provided.”
Spangler said she stands by her loss and is not seeking a revote or recount.
“I understand that it probably, from an outside perspective, looks like I’m just being a bad sport about it, but genuinely, like, it’s an election, and the best part about democracy is that people get to choose, and he gets another chance to serve the student body, and that’s incredible,” Spangler said.
Despite what both Spangler and Wilkinson would claim to be a tumultuous elections season, they both are in agreement that their decision to leave was sperate of elections.
“Take away the events of election season and keep the way that Colin has acted before then and after then — I would still leave,” Wilkinson said.
Spangler went on to discuss roles and duties of the GRC that were not event-specific that she felt the council had failed at this year.
“I had a whole plan of things that we were we needed to do for legislative tracking and making sure that the Utah State student body was civically informed,” Spangler said. “The city has been reaching out repeatedly, being like, ‘Hey, we need people to come down to downtown. We need to have events. We need to be doing things.’ And that will get mentioned, and then it would never happen.”
Both former directors said another reason for their premature departure was the absence of executive meetings since November.
“I felt as though the Executive meetings had become redundant, and business was conducted more efficiently among the entirety of our council, where we could have input from all of our members,” Hastings wrote.
Hastings disagreed with the comments of his former directors and said he instead feels the GRC amassed great success this year.
“My council accomplished all the major objectives we are set to do, including Gripe Nights, with the next being April 19th, the second ever Aggies Vote Week, and a successful Aggie Ice Cream Day on the Hill. Working with my council, we also submitted multiple Facility Enhancement Requests, and researched and made headway on possible solutions to parking problems across campus,” Hastings wrote. “We pushed USUSA legislation that would have created a new senator, and polled students on a variety of issues. However, I am not perfect, and there is more to do, and better ways to do it. Next year we are restructuring and shifting the focus of the GRC to be less of the Student Advocates committee, and a body focused on purely civil education and engagement.”