Resignation of a JCR Officer
A public statement issued as the previous JCR Secretary of Van Mildert College, part of the University of Durham
Dearest Mildertians,
I send you this e-mail tonight with a heavy heart, and I hope you don't consider my sending this under the "Really Important Stuff" mailing list in any way presumptuous. It is however my duty to inform you that, as of 8pm this evening, I have resigned entirely from my position as Van Mildert College JCR Secretary.
I have not taken this decision lightly and the events leading up to this are not straightforward. I will attempt to outline the key points now in the remainder of this e-mail, but I am willing to discuss these matters in more depth with any of you individually as I believe you have the right to fully understand my reasoning.
As some of you may be aware the JCR Chair recently nullified the internal appointments within PA Committee. This decision was taken without informing the individual JCR members involved, and without even knowledge of who the affected members were.
As a member of Exec, as a member of PA Committee and as someone whose position was nullified in this way I am extremely unhappy. In fact I am disappointed with the way this took place and most importantly the JCR Chair's unwillingness to fully explain the reasoning behind their decision, especially when the decision doesn't appear to be properly supported by the Constitution and Standing Orders.
Last Wednesday I issued a statement to the JCR Chair and JCR President informing them that unless a satisfactory reason was given for the necessity of this decision, and the matter resolved in a manner myself and the rest of PA Committee were satisfied with then I would have no choice but to resign from my position as JCR Secretary and from the Executive Committee. In a meeting today it became apparent we would not get such a response, and therefore I have made my resignation official.
I cannot be seen to endorse a JCR Executive which refuses to account for its decisions, and refuses to properly support its fellow JCR members.
This is not a decision I have taken lightly. Ultimately the job of JCR Secretary is to keep our members informed of the actions of the JCR. The moment the JCR believes it does not have to account for its actions the role becomes redundant.
If anyone has any questions about this matter, please feel free to contact me on my personal account paul.nicholls@durham.ac.uk
Kindest Regards,
Paul Nicholls
(paul.nicholls@durham.ac.uk)