Jared Brown (left), will be the only remaining executive member during the last two weeks of April.

All three University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union vice presidents have left office early, leaving just the president to cover all executive duties for the last two weeks of the term.

The USSU executive works as a team of four members — the president and the vice-presidents of operations and finance, academic affairs and student affairs — whose tenures run from May 1 to April 30.

USSU General Manager Caroline Cottrell said that occasionally one executive member resigns before their term is complete to accept a new job. But having three members resign in one term is almost unheard of.

Vice-President of Academic Affairs Ruvimbo Kanyemba resigned in February to accept a job as a youth justice worker in British Columbia.

Since the beginning of March, Kanyemba’s duties have been distributed between the other members of the executive and employees of the USSU.

Kanyemba’s resignation was heavily discussed and approved by the union administration. Cottrell said that when an executive member receives a job in their field of study — especially when they have already completed their degree as Kanyemba has — the union will be supportive of the member resigning.

Cottrell said Kanyemba tried to bargain with her new employer to postpone the beginning of her contract but was unsuccessful.

One of the vice-president academic’s most important tasks is dealing with academic grievances. President Jared Brown said that a full-time USSU employee who has been working closely with Kanyemba all year will assist students dealing with academic grievances. Members of the USSU Academic Affairs Committee are covering other aspects of Kanyemba’s position for the remainder of the term.

Vice-President of Operations and Finance Steven Heidel was the second executive member to call it quits early. His shortened term is now set to end April 4 rather than April 30.

Heidel was awarded a scholarship to attend a summer entrepreneurship program at the University of Toronto which begins May 4. He will be unable to fulfill his duties for the month of April because of some classes he needs to take before leaving for Toronto.

Cottrell said the program is an important opportunity for Heidel and that his resignation was also approved by the union.

Brown said Heidel’s resignation will not cause much of a problem as Heidel is leaving less than a month before the end of his term. The 2013-14 USSU budget has been presented to council members for them to vote on at the March 28 meeting.

“Altogether, his main duty is to get that [USSU] budget in, passed, understood with the organization and understood with the council,” Brown said. “I’m sure he’ll be able to do that.”

Vice-President of Student Affairs Alex Werenka accepted a position as an academic advisor in the College of Arts and Science. She has not resigned, but will use her vacation time to take the final two weeks of the term off to begin her new job.

Brown has been taking on some of the duties of the resigning members and says he hopes whoever is elected to next year’s executive will be able to step in early to learn the ropes.

The transition between outgoing and incoming executive members will not be as smooth this year as it has been in years past. The outgoing executive members have prepared transition binders specific to each position to help train the incoming executive. Brown said that at some point within the next month,  Kanyemba, Werenka, Heidel and himself will all be on campus together to assist with the transition between executives.

“There’s going to be a point where all four of us will be back again and we’ll be able to take these guys and show them what this is all about,” Brown said, though he said that the outgoing vice-presidents will not be present during the entire transition process.

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Photo:USSU 2012