IU Student Government Vice President Ava Smith announced Sunday she has resigned from her role to study abroad in Italy during the spring semester.
Smith was elected in March as part of the ACTION ticket alongside Student Body President Zachary Goldberg. Though she has resigned, she will continue to temporarily serve as acting vice president until Jan. 13.
IUSG leadership— Goldberg, Smith and Chief of Staff Maddi Sponsel — identified Parliamentarian Luke Carman as the nominee for Smith’s replacement. Carman is a sophomore majoring in political science, and his current role is to understand congressional rules and advise members on how to achieve their procedural outcomes.
“I think what really drew me to my feelings about taking it over if I’m confirmed is that I have a heart and passion for advocacy,” Carman said. “And an opportunity to do that on behalf of the student body at such a greater level is one that I couldn’t turn down.”
Smith said the decision to step down was difficult to make, but she felt it was the best choice for her.
“The opportunity presented itself, and I thought as a student this would be a good decision for me personally, for academic growth and personal growth,” Smith said. “So, it definitely took a lot of time and consideration.”
Smith worked alongside Goldberg on a multitude of projects, including the Crimson Closet initiative, a program that allows students to borrow professional clothing, and the All-Schools Committee, a committee made up of members from each IU school’s student government that collaborates or brings attention to issues and events in each school. IUSG helps organize meetings between student government and IU administration, if necessary.
“I hope to continue some of the progress and the committees that I’m on right now, finishing up everything towards the end of the semester,” Smith said. “Alongside of that, being there to answer any questions for anybody so that, again, it’s a very transparent and very fluid process.”
Goldberg said the process of looking for the next vice president started soon after Smith told him about her resignation in late September.
Goldberg said he waited to announce the resignation so the student body was fully informed of the decision and the future of the vice presidency.
“The whole thing with waiting was that we wanted to come up with a plan so that way everyone felt confident as soon as we had announced it,” Goldberg said. “The idea there was that we didn’t want to come to the student body and congress without knowing what was going to happen or the general timeline behind things because we felt that it would just cause undue stress, like, if nobody knew what was going on.”
Goldberg said he took a “really long look” at other members of IUSG and those outside the organization as potential replacements for Smith.
“Ava’s are big shoes to fill, so we needed to find somebody who is really good with people and will be able to talk to students and kind of understand different perspectives on campus,” Goldberg said.
He landed on Carman, officially proposing the vice president replacement to congress on Monday. After congress' first reading of the proposal, there will be a week of interviews during committee meetings to give students the opportunity to ask Carman questions.
As for Carman’s plans, he said he hopes to focus on student engagement.
“I think that our power as an organization and the work we do is directly correlated to how engaged we are with the student body,” Carman said. “And I think that increasing our engagement generally is going to yield for better results on our side of things.”
Congress will vote on whether to confirm Carman next week during its Monday meeting, though he would not be inaugurated until Jan. 13 when Smith leaves the position.
Carman will resign from his role as parliamentarian, allowing a new member of congress to be elected to the position.
“It’s all hands on deck from September to now, so the purpose of that is so that nothing has to change operationally through IU Student Government,” Goldberg said. “We’re going to ensure as well there’s going to be no operational halts from student government’s perspective.”
Smith said if the opportunity presents itself for her to return to IUSG next year, she would be more than happy to join again.
