Kennesaw State Student Government Association President Samuel Brand stepped down from his position before the Spring 2020 semester began, SGA communications director Jessica Watkins confirmed Thursday, Jan. 9.
In an email between a Sentinel reporter, Brand said that his reasons for leaving SGA were “quite personal,” and he was not willing to share his reasons with the public.
SGA Vice President Tariq Bradford will be taking over as president, Watkins said.
Bradford is currently serving as interim president of SGA until he is officially sworn into office at SGA’s first meeting of the semester on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
When asked to make comments on the new administration, Brand remained silent on the issue.
“I don’t believe it would be good for me to comment,” Brand said.
Brand declined to answer other questions about his time as SGA president.
As a result of Brand’s resignation, SGA rescheduled its first meeting from Wednesday, Jan. 8, to Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Brand and Bradford became president and vice president of SGA, respectively, after SGA’s elections last March, according to the Sentinel.
Brand ran his presidential campaign based on bringing transparency to KSU’s student body.
“Tariq and I hope to revitalize SGA and what it stands for — to the students and to us,” Brand said in a Sentinel article from last year. “We want to bring about transparency and accountability, and we hope that as a result, students will see SGA more for what it should be — their voice, their support and their peers.”
As a candidate, Brand also wanted to improve the quality of academic advising at KSU. He said that as a result of inadequate advising, some students have taken classes that they did not need to take, according to the Sentinel.
Brand was an advocate for KSU students getting more involved in student government and paying attention to what occurs in SGA. He is an international business major and claimed that his time spent competing abroad with Model United Nations inspired him to get into student politics, according to the Sentinel.
Before becoming SGA president, Brand was a senator of the Michael J. Coles College of Business.
Bradford, Brand’s replacement, also made the lack of transparency from KSU officials a central topic focused on while running as Brand’s vice president.
“KSU students have a right to know what is occurring within their university, especially those issues which occur on the campus itself,” Bradford said to the Sentinel.
Bradford is a double major in business management and marketing. Before becoming SGA’s vice president and interim president, Bradford was the senator of athletic students.
Arielle Robinson contributed to this article.