On Feb. 22, former Student Association (SA) President Dillon Schade announced his resignation at student congress. Zachary Vigliani, former executive vice president (EVP) and a senior majoring in business administration, had to fill the role of president. Pipe Dream sat down with him to discuss his thoughts and plans for the future of the SA.
Pipe Dream: What are your feelings about the past few weeks’ events?
Zachary Vigliani: The past few weeks have been an unfortunate series of events. Dillon was a good leader; he’s been involved on campus for four years now. He started on [Mountainview College Council], Hunter Hall president, worked his way up and did everything that he possibly could to serve the students. When he decided to run, the students voted him in as president. They felt that he was the best person for the job and it’s unfortunate what has happened.
I decided to [run for EVP] because I was most qualified for it. I thought that I was trained for it as well, having worked under [Chris Zamlout, last year’s EVP], in this office and in the SA. I’m an executive board member and as EVP it was my job to be second-in-command. If at any time the president got impeached, resigned — it was my job to step up. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.
PD: How has the transition been for the SA office as a whole?
ZV: The other offices are functioning as normal. We’ve continued. We are still trying to continue all the initiatives that we’ve started. Kate has been running smoothly, Ruslan has been running smoothly. Amanda is still running everything for advocates and Bernie is in the midst of planning spring fling. We are still moving forward. It has been a transition that Naomi and myself had to take on to make sure that the EVP office continues to be a success. We support every student group on campus and we can’t just stop that.
PD: What do you hope to see from candidates running for EVP for the Spring 2016 semester?
ZV: I would love for them to continue what I have been working on. We have planned B-Engaged trainings, we have open houses coming up where the student groups will be tabling, we have the Gala that we’ll be doing with the Dean of Students office, Senior Days, Senior Week, all that stuff. I would love for a candidate to have the experience and have the understanding of the SA to continue what I started and what I promised the students when I was campaigning and running.
PD: Do you have any opinions on Ruslan Klafehn’s presidential candidacy since his DWI arrest came to light?
ZV: I care what Ruslan does as the Vice President for Multicultural Affairs. I care what he is doing with the Intercultural Awareness Committee; I care about what he’s doing now as VPMA and as an executive board member. What Ruslan does as a student, as an individual, is not so much of my concern. He has been here for a year; he has been a good leader so far. If the students don’t feel comfortable having him run based off of what has happened, that’s on him. As a student, whatever he does in his free time, that’s what he wants to do. But as an executive board member, I’m fine with him and as VPMA he’s doing a great job.
PD: What do you hope next year’s executive board focuses on after taking office?
ZV: The biggest thing we always harp on is sustainability and making sure that once we start something in the SA, it doesn’t end and we continue to improve on it. We would love for the initiatives that we have worked on as an executive board to continue. We have three positions that are running unopposed and that’s unfortunate. It would have been nice to see more interest. I think it’s really important to have these candidates understand what the SA is, understand the sustainability that we’re trying to achieve — not only for next year, but five or 10 years down the road — and really be there for the students.
PD: How would you like to leave the office?
ZV: Sustainable. If [Chris Zamlout] can come back and be proud of the initiatives and goals that we have done, that [makes] me the most happy. I obviously want new ideas and new initiatives to come out of each and every office, but I would love to see the sustainability continue. To come back in five years and see something that is still going on, that would make me proud. Also a growing alumni base — that would be nice, too.