Student Association Sen. Ian Ching, ESIA-U, announced his resignation from the SA Monday night after a report accused him of bias, mismanagement and misconduct in the SA Senate’s finance committee.
Ching, the former finance committee chair tasked with distributing SA funds to student organizations, announced his resignation “from the Student Association and all of its bodies” at the senate meeting Monday night, effective immediately. His resignation follows a report alleging he displayed bias in finance committee meetings and delayed some student organization funding allocation processes by up to two months.
Ching said he resigned due to “hypocrisy” and later wrote a Twitter thread to “fully expose widespread SA legislative corruption” over the course of the year.
The senate initially added an agenda item to vote on whether Ching should remain as chair of the finance committee but canceled the vote after Ching’s sudden resignation during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Senators unanimously voted to elect SA Sen. Linsi Goodin, CCAS-G, and former vice chair of the finance committee, to chair the finance committee following Ching’s resignation. Goodin said she has been present throughout the general allocations process and will ensure the process is “equitable.”
SA Sen. Cody Ingraham, Law-G, said the report and following resignation are a situation the SA needs “to grow from.” He said the senate needs “to communicate better as a body.”
“What concerns me is that either we have foregone other less public, professional ways to communicate with each other, or those means were rejected and failed,” he said.
SA President Christian Zidouemba encouraged senators to consider why they joined the SA and focus on engaging with students, saying student leaders have become preoccupied with internal power dynamics.
“I hear constantly in rooms about who’s becoming the next president or who’s running to become the next student leader,” he said. “I encourage you all to attend student meetings.”
