Adam Shamah was elected to finish out the semester as the Student Association vice president for finance.
He was already elected to begin the position next fall, but when this year’s vice president for finance resigned in March, the position became vacant.
Shamah is the third person to hold the position this year, but he said that despite the transitions, the office continues to function normally.
The office, Shamah said, is by nature “inundated […] with a lot of stuff coming in, but we’re all on track.”
It is just his first week in office, but Shamah said he has “a pretty good grasp on the generalities” of the office. He is still learning the particulars, however, as specific issues come up.
Shamah is taking over the role from Jared Kirschenbaum, who is also the SA executive vice president. Kirschenbaum was serving as acting vice president for finance for the three weeks since the former vice president for finance Matthew Allwood resigned.
SA President Adam Amit said the office is running well.
“The transition has been very smooth,” he said. “A tremendous amount of credit goes to the VPF assistants.”
With the election complete, there is now an E-Board member exclusively for the office, and their time is not split between two positions.
“We have someone in the office now,” he said. “Holding the election quickly is what was best for students.”
But senior Rebecca Kohn, vice chair of the SA Judicial Board, disagrees. She filed a grievance with the J-Board claiming that the election process was unconstitutional. By her count, the SA violated between 17 and 19 constitutional statues or bylaws.
Kohn, who was also an assistant in the vice president for finance office under Kirschenbaum and Allwood, said the sense of urgency surrounding the election was misguided, and that the office was running smoothly with Kirschenbaum as acting vice president for finance.
“It was not urgent at all,” she said. “In reality the students were in great hands.”
She filed the grievance in hopes of postponing the election.
“The only constitutional way to place a stay on the election was to file a grievance which the J-Board would then be constitutionally required to hear [within] 12 hours,” which would be before the election, she said.
The J-Board ruled against the grievance.
Kohn was also concerned that the election was not sufficiently publicized.
“In effect it was an election being held without the students knowing about,” she said. “Simply wrong.”
About 1 percent of the undergraduate population, or 141 students, voted in the election. Shamah received 53 percent of the vote.
Despite the grievance, Kohn was confident in Shamah’s ability.
“Adam Shamah will do a good job,” she said. “It will be beneficial to students because he learned earlier than he normally would have.”
Shamah plans to make good on his campaign promises, such as streamlining the paperwork processes, reorganizing the treasurers’ handbook and improving the rollover process. However, with just four weeks left in the semester, he was more focused on fulfilling the basic duties of the office.
“Changing anything would confuse student groups,” he said. For now, he is meeting with treasurers to answer their questions on filling out forms, uses of group money and other financial matters.