By Erin Gignac
News Editor
Western Student Association President Erin Kaplan appointed Jasmine Neldon today as the new vice president to replace former Vice President Hailey Mangrum.
Neldon already performs some of the VP responsibilities in her role as speaker of the senate, said Kaplan.
“I’m really proud of the work she’s done,” Kaplan said. “She’s been the glue that has helped hold this organization together.”
Around 70 senators witnessed the appointment at the WSA meeting Wednesday night, which ended a week-long tumultuous debate. For the Judicial Council, it lasted over two months.
“It’s a really sensitive issue,” said WSA Chief Justice Lizze Fowler.
The council removed Mangrum through an administrative order last week because she failed to execute her duties as vice president of the WSA. In November, they outlined a list of orders that Mangrum was supposed to follow to keep her position in the WSA.
According to the Removal from Office Sanction issued by the council, Mangrum failed to:
- Meet with Kaplan every week
- Meet with each cabinet member once a month, all 14 of them
She held one meeting with Kaplan and one meeting with three of the 14 cabinet members, according to the sanction, forcing the council to remove her from office with a vote of 6 to 0, with no council members refraining from voting.
Kaplan spent a week interviewing prospective VP candidates that would step in to fill the position for the remainder of her presidential term. Neldon was the natural choice because of her experience, Kaplan said.
As of now, Neldon said she’s not running in the presidential campaign. She said she’ll focus her energy into training the new vice president that will take her place in eight weeks.
“I’d also depend on Erin’s help for that,” Neldon said.
The vote on the new VP was calmly passed with a 36 to 1 vote with 1 abstention.
“I think things could be a lot worse or a lot more absurd,” said Jesse Smade, vice chair of the Allocations Committee.
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36 to 1 says to me this person was either a shoo-in, or there wasn’t enough of something that may have lead to better decision. My gut says seems to think it was the later. Although I’m not familular with the canidate, the numbers shouldn’t do that in my opinion.