AS financial officer resigns

Lopez steps down after closed session

Bradley Hart
The Collegian

Associated Students chief financial officer Isaac Lopez resigned abruptly Monday following a vote of “no confidence” in his leadership by the AS Senate.

AS President Juan Pablo Moncayo said Vice President of Finance Isaac Lopez resigned because of personal reasons, including the time commitment required of the position, and had been considering the possibility of stepping down for some time.

“We really respect his decision and hope he can work on whatever he chooses from now on,” Moncayo said.

Lopez’ letter did not elaborate on his decision to leave the position, simply stating his intent to resign effective immediately, according to Moncayo.

Lopez did not return calls Tuesday evening asking for further comment.

The Senate entered a closed-door session at its Oct. 19 meeting to discuss what the meeting’s official minutes describe as a “personnel matter.”

Following the reconvention of the open Senate meeting, Executive Vice President Stephen Trembley announced that the Senate had passed a vote of “no confidence” in Lopez’ leadership.

Trembley was unable to elaborate further on the contents of the closed-door meeting or any discussions that took place within it.

The Vice President of Finance is responsible for chairing the AS Financial Committee, which helps determine funding for campus clubs and organizations that request it.

Under Lopez’ leadership the Financial Committee voted to grant more than $8,000 in funding to the organizations that had requested it only three weeks before the event for which the money was set to be used.

The current AS funding guidelines state that organizations and clubs must file formal requests for funds six weeks before the event in question is scheduled to take place.

A memorandum issued at the same Oct. 19 meeting by Lopez and Moncayo carries a subject line of “Club Funding — Reserves Line Item Transfer Request.”

It requests that the Senate vote funds to the organizations that had been granted them in violation of AS bylaws.

The memorandum states that, “In the past weeks, we have realized many mistakes that have led to approving funding for clubs/organizations that were in direct violation of our bylaws.”

It goes on to say, “all clubs and organizations received inconsistent and incorrect information from our Vice President of Finance about the deadline specified in our policy at the Clubs and Organizations meetings held at the beginning of the semester.”

Furthermore, according to the memo, all seven of the organizations were informed by Lopez via e-mail that their requests for funding had been approved.

It notes that “previous practice has been to only inform organizations [of funding approval] through a formal letter from the Vice President of Finance.”

The Senate approved the transfer of funds unanimously, allowing the affected groups to potentially receive the amounts specified in their original requests.

Due to the nature of the transfer, University President John D. Welty must now grant approval before the money can be given.

It was not immediately clear what steps would be taken to replace Lopez.

Moncayo said Student Affairs Senator Matt Ortiz has been appointed interim Finance Committee chair to replace Lopez, while he and Trembley will take on the position’s other roles until a new financial officer is chosen.

Fresno State student voters elected Lopez to the office of Vice President in AS elections last April.

He won about 55 percent of the vote to give him the victory over opponent Michael Karbassi, who was then a member of the Financial Committee.

“I’m sure it was a very difficult decision for him to make,” Karbassi said of his former opponent’s decision to step down. “And I wish him all the best.”

Karbassi also said he was “strongly considering” filing an application for the now vacant position.

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