In the Nov. 3 Student Government Association meeting, the senate announced that Intl. Affairs Vice President Stephanie Song was resigning from her position for health reasons.

According to the official statement from SGA on the resignation, Song resigned from her role on Nov. 2 due to health concerns that were only disclosed to SGA President Matthew Ryan.

“The Student Government Association Executive Board is deeply saddened by the early departure of one of our valued members; however, the Executive Board fully supports Vice President Emeritus Song in her decision. Per the Association’s Constitution, the president will appoint a senate member to serve as the vice president of international affairs for the remainder of the 2011-2012 academic year,” the statement said.

During the Nov. 16 SGA meeting, it was announced that Song’s replacement would be international student senator Tommy Zang. According to Ryan, Zang was selected after an open application was sent out to the entire senate.

“We had three applicants come forth,” Ryan said. “Stephanie fully endorsed Zang getting the position and wanted him to continue the work she had started.”

Ryan cited Zang’s energy and rapport with international and domestic students as reasons for his appointment.

“It was a little sudden, but we’ll create a good transition,” Zang said.

Zang said that he intends to continue with Song’s goals, and will continue to advertise more about SGA and raise awareness on the issues surrounding international students.  In addition to Song’s resignation, nine other senators have resigned from SGA during this past semester. Vice President of Internal Affairs Scott Hessel said that the resignations were not made out of resentment toward SGA, but they resulted from realizations that senate was not the best fit for them.

“The primary reason for the resignations was that the senators’ experience and passions did not necessarily lie with SGA,” Hessel said.

Hessel said that senator resignations are not abnormal. As of the Nov. 16 meeting, five of the nine empty spots have been filled.

“Moving forward, we’ll continue to have the strongest representation in the room and have senators maintain a strong connection with their constituents,” Ryan said.