Nicklas Bajema told KnightNews.com that he resigned his position as Student Government Association’s Supervisor of Elections on Friday, Sept. 25.
Bajema stepped down just days before the senate elections, which started Sept. 28.
“The problem was that I was being harassed by certain candidates and I just didn’t want to work there anymore. It’s something I loved from my school and they made it not worth it,” Bajema said.
Bajema explained that by “candidates” he said it was for the most part the people already in senate, predominantly by senate leadership.
Something Bajema expressed was that he got amazing help from the professional staff in the SGA office. He said they were there for him and deserve the recognition of how they handled the situation.
“I expected people to act with, not only integrity, but respect for my position as well as treating me as a human being and I guess it was too high of an expectation,” Bajema expressed.
“I was appointed too late, there were unrealistic expectations as far as the timeline goes. I was working 39.75-40 something hours a week, I got payed for 15 of those. I was pulling 12 hour days, sometimes 10 hour days,” Bajema explained. “The problem was not even that, I’m more than happy to serve my school in such a manner.”
Bajema wants people to know that it’s not every senator that did this. He said he does not want anyone to vote with a proposition thinking that all senators are like this just because of a “few bad apples that made it not worth it.”
“There’s some great people that are running, and I think the best thing they, [the students] can do is to look into who they’re voting for.”
David Oglethorpe, the Office of Student Involvement Communication Coordinator, commented on how this affected fall elections.
“Per election statutes, Whitney Barnes, Assistant Supervisor of Elections, has assumed these responsibilities. This fall’s election cycle has run smoothly as expected and we don’t anticipate any disruption in the process,” Oglethorpe explained
KnightNews.com reached out to the Speaker of the Senate but has not heard back yet.
