Camila Pelsinger ’20 plans to resign as vice president of the Undergraduate Council of Students with an email statement to the general body ahead of tonight’s UCS meeting. Mar Weiss ’20, chair of academic affairs, also plans to resign today.
Both Pelsinger and Weiss are resigning in order to take “AFRI 1030: Contesting the Carceral State,” a course whose meeting time conflicts with UCS’ weekly general body meetings.
UCS was unable to change its meeting time to accommodate this conflict, leading Pelsinger and Weiss — who were elected to their positions last March — to step down.
Pelsinger’s and Weiss’ resignations will be final “immediately” after they submit their statements to the Council, according to the Council’s by-laws and code of operations. UCS plans to hold an internal election tonight during the general body meeting to fill their vacated positions, UCS President Shanzé Tahir ’19 wrote in a statement to The Herald.
“Serving as the Vice President of Brown’s Undergraduate Council of Students has been a joy and a privilege — one I will never forget,” Pelsinger wrote in a Feb. 6 Op-Ed for The Herald.
“We understand Camila’s decision to prioritize her academics, and we really appreciate the positive contributions she has made to the UCS,” Tahir wrote on behalf of the Council’s executive board. “Her efforts have been invaluable, and we wish her all the best going forward.”
Weiss resigned to “prioritize my coursework,” she wrote in a statement to The Herald. “My passion for my role is rooted in my passion for academics.”
In an additional statement on behalf of the executive board, Tahir wrote that Weiss “has done incredible work in her time as the Chair of Academic Affairs, and we appreciate her sustained efforts towards bettering the Brown community.”
The student body elected Pelsinger vice president last March after a campaign that emphasized community building and developing informal pathways to address harm on campus, The Herald previously reported.
In her time as vice president, Pelsinger has worked to advance the Campus of Consent Bill, a UCS initiative that organizes mandatory harm prevention trainings for Category III student groups. UCS organized pilot trainings that were attended by representatives from 61 student groups last semester, The Herald previously reported.
“I was involved with that since its inception in January 2017,” Pelsinger said. “Being able to be part of the implementation in the first semester was really exciting.”
Pelsinger said she will continue to work with UCS Chair of Student Activities Alex Song ’20 “to keep working on this project.”
Among other projects, Pelsinger has also worked with Tahir to develop “a new initiative to expand institutional resources for community accountability and healing,” she wrote in the Op-Ed.
“I know that whoever the UCS general body elects to succeed me will … do exceptional things,” Pelsinger said.
Weiss is in her second year as Chair of Academic Affairs. In her time as chair, the committee has worked on establishing cash awards for peer advisors and advocated for student representation on the University’s disciplinary hearing committee, among other initiatives.
“I intend to see through the projects that I have started and continue to serve as a student advocate on campus,” Weiss wrote. “I wish my successor and UCS the best of luck in all future endeavors to continue to improve the Brown experience.”
