By Abigail Gan | Staff Writer
Student Body President Nick Madincea issued the first executive order of his administration Friday evening, downsizing the student body president’s office from 21 people to nine people — a 57% decrease.
“Something I’ve seen a lot in previous administrations is that the student body president’s cabinet tends to get really large and bloated, and anytime that happens, not a whole lot gets done because people don’t have a sense of personal ownership over what’s going on,” Madincea said. “I went ahead and decided to downsize the cabinet this year to really try to increase the efficiency and just overall enhance my president’s cabinet.”
Madincea said he will distribute the responsibilities of the 12 roles that have been cut to other members of his cabinet.
External Vice President Lily Davis and Internal Vice President McKenzie Arata sent a joint statement via email about their thoughts regarding the executive order.
“Downsizing the Student Body President’s Cabinet has the potential to benefit Student Government and, consequently, the student body overall,” the statement reads. “In downsizing the cabinet, there can be an increase of ownership, efficiency, and accountability. As all of the responsibilities will remain in the office of the Student Body President, the work of those former positions will be completed by Nick’s cabinet members. Overall, having a smaller cabinet can better serve the student body by enabling a small group of people to take ownership of projects and hold one another accountable more efficiently.”
Madincea said he hopes student government will look up to his cabinet, see the concentration and energy and be motivated to act.
“I believe in being an energetic executive,” Madincea said. “And I think that one of the biggest misconceptions I see in student government, is people think that there’s a lot of time. We really don’t have much time at all. You know, we have essentially nine months in my position to get stuff done. So what I’m really hoping is that people kind of see my cabinet being energetic and proactive and getting out there and getting a lot done, and that motivates them … to act quickly and energetically in service to our student body.”
In Madincea’s executive order, he said that while some might argue that eliminating positions isn’t the answer to the problem, the best way to revitalize the cabinet is to make it a smaller team.
“This policy change will create a cultural and administrative improvement that will empower my cabinet members to create meaningful change on behalf of our student body,” the executive order reads.
The executive order will remain in effect for the duration of the Madincea administration and may be used as a precedent for potential future legislative proposals.
