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In the wake of a disciplinary hearing and pressure from both the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Executive Board and the Noyes House Team, Noyes House President Sean Koerner ’11 resigned from his position on Thursday, April 9. Vice President of Noyes Andi Sharavsky ’11 has taken over the role in Koerner’s stead.
Koerner’s disciplinary hearing was the result of an unauthorized party in Kenyon Hall that Koerner helped organize just before Spring Break, during which damage was wrought to College property.
“I asked [Koerner] to resign because I think that his actions were not befitting of a representative on campus. His actions were in direct contrast to all of the things he has said in Council in recent weeks,” said VSA President Jimmy Kelly ’09.
Kelly continued, “I think that our own Constitution provides only weak grounds for pursuing someone when they have egregious violations with College Regulations, and so I just think that it was best for us to move forward doing that rather than pushing an indictment.”
Kelly explained that the Executive Board has been discussing this problem for some time and has been in contact with Dean of the College Christopher Roellke. As it currently stands, the VSA Constitution does not stipulate Council proceedings in the event of such infractions by its student leaders.
“In recent memory I’ve never seen the President ask anyone to resign,” Kelly said. “In fact, any resignation that we’ve had has been based on an individual choice—based on perhaps changes in schedule, leave of absences, things like that,” he continued. “But, I think that this is probably a unique example where we just didn’t feel like we had the grounds to pursue it through the disciplinary process that we have right now.”
Though Kelly recognized that Koerner’s situation was unique, he contended that the manner in which it was dealt will not set a precedent for the future. At its meeting on Sunday, April 12, Vice President for Student Life Nate Silver ’10 introduced an amendment proposal that, if passed, will allow Council to impeach student leaders for serious violations of College Regulations. For more information on the amendment, see “Council debates standards, grounds for impeachment” on page 4 of this issue of The Miscellany News.
Koerner had hoped to use his position to further campus dialogue on the drinking culture based on the ramifications of student conduct at the unauthorized party in Kenyon.
“I was approaching this incident, and the process I went through as a result, as a chance to involve the College in a constructive discussion about the type of behavior enabled by my actions and about student drinking culture as a whole,” wrote Koerner in an e-mailed statement. “This is not only an issue I feel passionately about—it is an issue that tends to be dealt with in a very institutional way, without as much vibrant dialogue as I think it deserves.”
“Upon my return to campus, however, many of my peers in leadership positions created a very hostile environment to my continuation as President of Noyes; though their concerns about image were realistic, I felt that this incident as a catalyst for discussion was more important than maintaining appearances,” he continued. “In that climate, it became impossible for me to continue as President in a meaningful manner, and so I tendered my resignation.”
Had Koerner not resigned, it is still unlikely that he would have served the rest of the year as Noyes House President. Kelly and the Noyes House Team had discussed different ways to move forward ensuring that he would not. “The first step that we all agreed upon was that I would ask him to resign. They would then ask him to resign. Then they would ask for recall,” said Kelly.
Kelly asked Koerner to put forward his decision by April 9. In a recall vote situation, one quarter of Noyes residents would have had to sign a petition asking for Koerner to step down, at which point the VSA Executive Board would have the power to force him out of office.
As Kelly explained, the impact of Koerner’s resignation on Council and the House Team will be minimal because Sharavsky has already served in his place for the past two weeks.
“She’s done a great job. She’s already served in [Koerner’s] place on the committees that he had been sitting on,” said Kelly. “I think it’s a step in the right direction. I think it allows the Noyes House Team to move pretty seamlessly through the rest of the year without too much craziness.”
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