Marquette Student Government announced Wednesday that Executive Vice President Bill Neidhardt, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, has resigned from his position, effective immediately.
President Arica Van Boxtel, a senior in the College of Communication, said Neidhardt informed the executive board of his decision in an email Monday.
According to an MUSG press release, Neidhardt chose to step down “in order to focus his attention on his academic and post-graduation success.”
Van Boxtel said she and Neidhardt had been talking about the possibility of his resignation since December.
“Over break is when we started having that conversation,” she said. “It happened pretty quickly, but we talked about it and determined that it makes sense.”
Van Boxtel has already selected Joe Daufenbach, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, to be Neidhardt’s successor, but the MUSG senate will need to approve her appointment with a two-thirds vote. Van Boxtel said the vote will be held on Thursday, Jan. 17, during MUSG’s first meeting of the semester.
Van Boxtel said she chose Daufenbach to fill the role because of his history with the organization.
“He is really strong in his leadership in the senate,” Van Boxtel said. “He is a committee chair and he has experience on the (Student Organization Funding) committee … I am very confident in his abilities.”
Van Boxtel emphasized the importance of making the transition period smooth for the organization.
“While it’s hard and it’s not ideal, its something we need to go through,” she said. “I think at the end of the day it will be better for him and for the organization.”
Neidhardt said in a December interview with the Tribune that he hoped to spend the spring semester evaluating the allocation of funding to student organizations.
“One of my next projects includes taking a closer look at our Student Organization Funding process and improving it,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest ways MUSG interacts with a large part of the student body, and I feel as though there is room for improvement.”
Other members of the MUSG executive board could not be reached or declined to comment as of press time.
