In light of the recent attention given to the resignation of Taylor Carr, former chief of staff of Student Association, I feel compelled to offer the Syracuse University campus insight into the duties of chief of staff.

I served as the chief of staff of SA prior to Mr. Carr. My appointment expired in December 2011 after one year of service. 

The primary role of the chief of staff is to advise the president on the direction of the organization. In addition, the chief of staff provides cabinet members with the necessary support and resources in order to ensure SA fulfills its duty as ‘defender of the students’ and achieves results.

In the capacity of chief of staff, I occasionally became frustrated by the leadership and direction of the organization. The frustration motivated me to invest myself further in its improvement. To do so, I worked more closely with the SA leadership and members to foment change. I understood my duty as chief of staff was to fix, rather than to simply point out, problems hindering our service to students.

Let me be clear that a dramatic resignation out of frustration is neither the duty of the chief of staff nor the way to promote positive change and improvement within SA. It is the duty of the chief of staff to bring those frustrations to the attention of the president and cabinet and to work with SA to ensure they are addressed.

Thank you,

Amy Snider

Former chief of staff,

55th session 

Published on April 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm