An unannounced senior resignation in the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) may delay clubs from getting crucial funding.
AUS VP Finance Andrew Dyadin left his position on October 29, 2018, right before grants for the approximately 20 AUS-sanctioned clubs were to be processed.
The VP Finance acts as a go-between for the AUS and the AMS, coordinating reimbursements and grants given to clubs, and oversees a budget of around $180,000.
According to Speech and Linguistics Treasurer Ivana Prpic, the AUS failed to inform some club treasurers of Dyadin’s resignation.
“I had no idea,” Prpic said. “I wasn't notified, we got no emails from anybody [...] I was worried about the status of our grant application just because our club has depended on that to help provide for speech and linguistics students.”
Prpic said that they had already begun spending based on the grant application they sent in, and that she still doesn’t know if it’s been received. “We kind of designed our budget based on [the grant],” she said
Last Tuesday, Lucia Liang was appointed the new VP Finance. But Prpic said she still knows very little.
“They've extended the deadline [for grant applications], to [November] 14, which is really nice. So it should be okay,” Prpic said. “But what's alarming to me is that I haven't heard anything,”
AUS President Kat Aquino said that AUS Council members had been informed of the decision — but no announcement was made to the clubs themselves or through the AUS’s social media channels. “We had made an announcement to our Council members on October 23 and hoped that they would let their teams know,” Aquino said in a statement to The Ubyssey. “We invite our Club Treasurers to email us with any unanswered questions.”
Why resign?
Dyadin says his reasons for resigning are “not dramatic,”
He said that misunderstanding and disagreements with his fellow executives, as well as key changes to his position that he was not privy to all contributed to his decision to quit.
“[The AUS] is a usual student society,” Dyadin said. “So obviously there are always some issues regarding communication, cooperation, meeting deadlines, etc.”
Those included changes made the mandate of the VP Finance portfolio itself, which Dyadin said he was not privy to even though he already occupied the role.
“I was excluded of that out of the process,” Dyadin said.
It became of matter of not seeing what more he could get out of the position.
“I thought I wouldn't get anywhere with [the VP Finance position],” said Dyadin. “So if I'm in a position where I don't have any decision-making ability, that's not really the right position [for me].”
Aquino said Liang is currently being transitioned into her new role.
“We have been working with her to ensure that she is given the proper training from the AMS and the AUS for the role as she begins to handle the business of VP Finance.”