On April 26, 2021, RHA’s elected Director of Programming (DOP), Maria Costa, amicably resigned from her position for personal and medical reasons. Because RHA’s Legislative Council is not currently in session—and won’t be until Fall 2021—and per Article VIII, Section C of the organization’s Constitution, I, as the Executive President of the organization, have the authority to appoint an eligible candidate as an interim officer to fill the vacancy of the Director of Programming position.
Until an interim is appointed, I shall fulfill all duties and responsibilities of the position. Once an interim is appointed, they will remain in the position until the first Legislative Council meeting of the Fall 2021 semester, which is tentatively scheduled for September 2021, during which elections for the position will be held and the Legislative Council will formally elect a successor to the position. It is my intent to appoint an interim who fully plans on and will commit to serving in the elected Director of Programming position for the entire 2021-2022 term, in addition to their role as an interim DOP.
Although, come Fall, the Legislative Council will formally and constitutionally have the right to elect a new successor to the position—different from the interim officer appointed—I strongly recommend and encourage that the Legislative Council treat the election as a confirmation, formally electing the candidate who was appointed as an interim and not another candidate who may run for the position. The situation that is before us—of a vacancy that must be filled by appointment while Legislative Council is out of session for at least four months—is unprecedented, and the organization will benefit from as little turnover as possible. Over the next four months, the interim Director of Programming that I appoint will receive comprehensive training, contribute hundreds of hours to the organization, and begin planning campus-wide programming for the entire 2021-2022 academic year. By the time elections are held in Fall 2021, it is my belief that there will be no better candidate for the position than the interim officer that has been appointed.
To fill the vacancy for the Director of Programming position, I will conduct an internal search for a successor candidate starting Monday, April 26, 2021. This internal search will last no longer than a week; if, after one week, an internal search has not yielded an adequate interim, I will begin an external, resident-wide search for a successor starting Monday, May 3. This external search is to last, at most, two weeks. If, by Monday, May 17, an adequate successor has not been identified, the search for an interim will be called off, and the position will remain vacant until further notice, with the Executive President fulfilling all duties and responsibilities of the position until election proceedings can resume, per the normal methods, once Legislative Council is back in session.
Respectfully signed,
Bryan M. Gomez, 2021-2022 Executive President