Caleb Krieg, sophomore and Students’ Association (SA) President hopeful, resigned from his position with SA’s Public Relations team Wednesday night, after a heated spat on Facebook involving several SA heavyweights.
“I refuse to be a part of a system that lacks professionalism,” Krieg wrote in a statement to SA peers. “I refuse to partake in a system that makes jokes about issues currently at the table. I refuse to be a part of a system that inherently perpetuates a lack of transparency with the students. I refuse to be a part of a system that is willing to attack my running for saying the honest truth.”
Krieg was referring to criticism levied by SA Senator and former SA Vice President David Stark against junior Nico Tavella, who is running with Krieg, on Facebook, calling into question Tavella’s statement at that night’s debate that the current SA administration is the first one he’s felt has cared about students and their issues.
“I think you guys are the first president and vice president that actually cared about what was happening around campus, and that was the first time I felt that way,” Tavella said at the debate, which Stark had taken as a slight against his and former SA President Antoinette Esce ‘15’s 2014-2015 term.
“Yo I heard I don’t care about students,” Stark posted to Tavella’s Facebook profile. After a slew of bickering comments between Krieg, Tavella, Stark, and SA Senator Jordan Smith, Stark apologized for his remarks.
“The reason why I resigned,” Krieg said in an interview that night, “[is that] if I do not feel safe in that system […] I will not participate in that system.”
Visibly upset during the interview, Krieg said that he has felt ostracized within SA for several weeks, and that the argument Wednesday “was just my breaking point, just knowing that we have senators who are willing to throw shots at our campaign.”
He said he had no concerns that his resignation would harm his election bid.
