Baruch College’s former Undergraduate Student Government Vice President for Campus Affairs Steven Le resigned from the position and officially stepped down on March 15 due to personal reasons.

“I think it was for the sake of my mental health,” Le told The Ticker in a phone call interview. “It was just a lot of responsibility placed onto me . . . I think patience is that important skill, and I think that, simply, maybe the role wasn’t fit for me, just because I didn’t really have that. And, also, just because, with my workload interning for a company right now, with school, with classes, I think it was just a lot to handle, so that’s one of the reasons I chose to resign.”

Le said that one of his biggest accomplishments while in the role was putting together homecoming this year, despite the remote setting.

Another of his accomplishments was growing the campus affairs committee and helping cultivate its strong sense of community. As of the time of Le’s interview with The Ticker, he said that the campus affairs group chat had about 80 members, with participants ranging from inactive members to active members and vice chairs; at this time, there were six vice chairs and 20 committee members that collaborated on projects.

“The campus affairs committee became a club in itself,” he said.

Le also started the Big Sibs mentorship program, which was created to make first-year and transfer students more acquainted with resources and opportunities that are available on campus, according to a post on the USG Facebook page.

Additionally, the committee discussed securing more 3D-printers, charging lockers and additional laptops for campus for the fall 2021 semester with Baruch.

“Steven’s time in office as the Vice President of Campus Affair has paved his legacy with extraordinary accomplishments,” USG President Tony Chen told The Ticker through text.

“When the turnouts of the events were low in all virtual settings, he managed to create a fun homecoming week and plan many events with the goal of lighting up the Baruch community. He also works with many other senators to create his mentoring program called the Big Sibs and has also been an active voice in addressing new equipment needs to the Baruch Administrators.”

Le was first elected to the position last school year, when the student government elections were held remotely over MyBaruch due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The job of the campus affairs committee and vice president, according to Le, is to try to improve the school’s facilities and to create events, such as resume workshops, alongside the student affairs committee to engage students.

He said that one reason why the campus affairs committee has put so much effort into creating events is that USG found that first year students and transfer students weren’t very involved with campus life or engaged with the college community.

“And it’s not because they don’t want to be engaged or because they don’t want to be a part of the community, it’s because they can’t, just because in a virtual setting, it’s much more hard to make
friends,” Le said.

Le is still active within USG, working with the Athletics Board and the Technology Subcommittee on projects, but no longer holds an elected role in the government.

Julia DiMarcello has been moved up to fill the role of vice president of campus affairs. According to Chen, DiMarcello was internally elected after applying to the position.

“I will say, whoever is trying to become the next VP of campus affairs, my advice is to just have a lot of patience, just because sometimes you may want to get something out but you may have to sort of accommodate for someone’s timeline of when things can be marketed and things like that,” Le said.