By Melissa Kong
Staff Writer
There’s a new vice president in town. On Oct. 2, John Jay’s Student Council elected Julio Torres as vice president to replace Salahdine Baroudi, who resigned early September.
Torres, 26 and a Global History Major, is a former active duty service member in the U.S Army. He was the president of the John Jay Veterans Association, as well as a Senior class representative. To take up this new role, Torres had to resign from those positions mentioned above.
Though Torres already assumed the responsibilities as Student Council’s new vice president, the shift of the change has not yet been updated on the college Jay Stop website.
Torres joined Student Council because he felt he was the right man for the job saying there was a lot of work to do once there was a vacancy.
“I offered my experience and promised to do my best,” Torres said. “With my experience in the military I thought I could fill this role.”
In an email sent to the Sentinel, Baroudi explained the reasons for his resignation.
“Ultimately, what led to my resignation as the Vice President of Student Government was other responsibilities that, I felt, fell in more closer relation to my career interests.”
Baroudi later went on to reflect about his time serving as Student Council Vice President.
“I carefully considered my 2 years of working within Student Government, and the four to five month term as Vice President, and realized that I had completed a significant portion of my duties and objectives within the position,” said Baroudi.
As for Torres, he told the Sentinel of his broad agenda.
“My plans are to fill all committees available for student representation on campus, make changes to the Student Government Charter which will increase the efficiency of Student Governance within John Jay, assist the Student Council Representatives with their tasks and event planning, revise various reference material used by Student Government, formalize a John Jay homelessness initiative and have an ROTC information session,” said Torres.
One of the tasks that Baroudi had that still needs to be fulfilled is filling committee seats. The task is essential because it gives careful consideration to issues pertaining to college policies and other student related concerns on campus.
For Student Council’s President Clinton Dyer Jr. he stated, “I trusted in his ability,” he expressed that because of Baroudi 2 year Student Government experience, he had very high expectations. One major expectation that Dyer had for the former Student Council Vice President was the fulfillment of committee seats which according to Dyer, Baroudi failed to do.
Though it isn’t ideal to have a student council member resign mid-semester, Torres is optimistic about his new position.
“I hope to embody the Student Council motto of “Catalyst for Change,” said Torres.
“I hope to accomplish all of my plans while maintaining my GPA. I hope to assist homeless students of John Jay and replicate this effort throughout CUNY.”