Student lobbyists are looking to fill an Arizona Students’ Association spot left open when Chairman Matt Boepple resigned his position in December after a semester of demanding late-night meetings and traveling between Flagstaff, Phoenix and Tucson.
Boepple said he resigned because the position required too much time. He plans to focus on his academics.
“”ASA is a very demanding job, and I needed to refocus on school, and it wasn’t a possibility with ASA’s time schedule,”” Boepple said.
According to the ASA bylaws, a board member must contribute a minimum of 25 office hours per week, along with meetings, traveling, sitting on the faculty committee and other duties, Boepple said.
“”Being chairman was about the same difficulty as being the student body president or vice president,”” Boepple said.
Associated Students of the University of Arizona President Erin Hertzog said Boepple’s departure was unfortunate, although he did a lot for the position.
“”Matt is great. As a senator, he worked very
ASA is a very demanding job, and I needed to refocus on school, and it wasn’t a possibility with ASA’s time schedule.
– Matt Boepple,former ASA chairman
hard, even with being chairman of the ASA board,”” Hertzog said. “”He just had a heavy workload and needed a change for next semester.
Last year, Andrew Record resigned from his position as an ASA director in February, citing “”very personal health issues.””
In 2002, Jenny Rimsza resigned from the ASA position after then-ASUA President Doug Hartz ordered that ASA directors vote unilaterally on issues at statewide meetings.
Still, Boepple has remained active with other ASA members.
“”Before I left, I was working on improving the endowment fund, and I am still actually working with a couple of people,”” Boepple said.
ASA members are reinterviewing past applicants to fill Boepple’s position, Hertzog said. A replacement is expected to be chosen within the week, but if a replacement cannot be found from past applicants, new applicants will be interviewed in mid-February.
“”I felt a little bit of everything at the time,”” Boepple said, “”from relief of being able to focus on schoolwork again to regret that I was not able to complete the things I set out to do.””
