Less than two weeks after the election of the new Students’ Association executive officers, Melanie Wheeler resigned from her position as executive secretary.
Wheeler, who served as executive secretary for the past year and had been selected to do so again next year, said she decided to resign Monday after a meeting with the three newly elected executive officers Sunday night. Sam Palomares, SA president and junior communications major from Elsa, said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the role of the executive secretary and the team dynamics of the future cabinet.
All three officers said her resignation came as a regrettable surprise.
“Melanie was a great asset for me, particularly,” said Chris Shim, SA treasurer and senior finance major from Atlanta, Ga. “I will miss having her.”
However, Wheeler said the tone of the meeting and the environment in the office was not one of unity. She said that lack of unity, in addition to the pointed nature of the questions asked during the meeting, is what led to her resignation.
“I was hoping things would be different next year, but by the conclusion of my interrogation on Sunday night, the new cabinet had dashed those hopes,” said Wheeler, junior political science and history major from Abilene. “It was obvious that the toxic environment was only going to intensify.”
SA co-advisers Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president for Student Life and dean of students, and Dr. Jeff Arrington, associate vice president for Student Life, said they were aware the executive officers had questions and concerns about the secretary position. Thompson said the concerns pertained to the fulfillment of secretarial duties, not a violation of Student Life policy, therefore the decision was left to the officers.
“The advice we gave to those who raised concerns was, again, we’re going to hold you to direct leadership and care, meaning if there are questions or concerns about a particular SA member or officer, it is your responsibility to go talk with that person, and in this case, Melanie,” Thompson said.
Thompson did say he hoped students trusted any decisions the SA advisers made in the past few weeks – or at any other time – were for the well-being of the students involved, as well as the university.
“As dean of students, I do have, within our Student Handbook and our policies, discretion to make some decisions – whether everybody agrees with them or not – that are based on the very best interest of the individual student we’re working with and the community as a whole,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t get it fully right, but I think that the intent is good, and I think that we’ve been fair.”
The three executive officers said they had intended for Wheeler to step into the role of executive secretary next year.
“We’re all human here; we might not have handled the second group meeting as well as we possibly could,” Elk said. “I definitely concluded that she was the person we wanted to be the secretary.”
The three elected executive officers will be responsible for interviewing and selecting Wheeler’s replacement. They have already chosen the remaining members of the new cabinet: the chief communications officer, the chief financial officer and the parliamentarian.
Connor Best, sophomore political science major from Sacramento, Calif., will be the new parliamentarian. Farron Salley, sophomore journalism major from Fort Worth, will serve as the chief communications officer. Carson Henley, sophomore biochemistry major from Colleyville, who was also Shim’s opponent in the race for treasurer, will be the chief financial officer.
Elk said the application process for executive secretary should be reopened to the entire student body sometime next week. The executive officers chose to open the application to everyone, he said, to take advantage of the best the campus has to offer.
