MCRC vice-president resigns

Jorge Leclair has resigned from his position as Vice President (Society Activities) for the Main Campus Residents’ Council (MCRC). The resignation came into effect Nov. 7 after a joint decision between Leclair and the MCRC executive.

“He had a number of personal issues that had been ongoing for a couple of weeks, and unfortunately those started interfering with his job,” said Alexis Meyerman, MCRC president.

Leclair said he spoke with Meyerman a week prior to a New York trip he had organized regarding his personal problems.

“She’s known that for a while, and I told her that I couldn’t continue putting in the time and energy that I wanted to,” Leclair said.

Meyerman said the VP (SA) position is more challenging than in previous years, because it involves organizing one residence-wide social activity per month, as opposed to one per semester.

“Which means [Leclair] had a lot of responsibility,” Meyerman said.

Leclair said the position was very demanding, and required a large time commitment.

His duties this semester included the organization of a residence orientation event, a residence art fair, a Halloween Ball and the New York trip.

Problems with the latter two events contributed to Leclair’s resignation.

The Halloween Ball had to be cancelled the day of the event due to a lack of ticket sales.

Meyerman said there was also a last-minute change in the New York trip’s bus schedule the day before students were scheduled to leave. Leclair was not available to fix the problem because he had travelled to New York ahead of time.

“There had been an option for students to sign up for a 7 a.m. bus or a 12 p.m. bus, and unfortunately the signups weren’t done on time and so on and the bus company ended up having to say, ‘OK, we’re just coming at 12 p.m.’ ”

Meyerman said that while there were problems with the structure of the VP (SA) position, the organized events have been popular with students.

“Overall, this is something that is completely new at MCRC,” Meyerman said. “[Students in residence said] they wanted more trips and more events like this as long as the problems were fixed. So I think we will respond to students by providing that kind of programming.”

Meyerman said MCRC is hoping to fill Leclair’s position before exams start.

“We are also looking for next year at how we can change the position and adapt it so that [the VP (SA) ] have more support personally, so that they can be more effective in their job,” she said.

“[Leclair], actually, by the end of his term, had two interns that were first-year volunteers, and that really helped, actually,” she said. “I think the structural problems were getting fixed.”

Leclair said he will be moving out of residence, adding that Meyerman has been supportive of his decision.

“It was basically a choice for me about … what is in the best interest of my health,” he said. “I decided I couldn’t do MCRC.”

Meyerman said that despite problems that arose, she was sorry to see Leclair go.

“I think everybody likes [Leclair], particularly on a personal level,” she said. “He’s definitely put in a lot of effort on this job.”

Several residence dons declined comment, citing MCRC Communications Policy prohibiting them from speaking to the media.

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