Zach Pilchen (’09) officially resigned tonight from the office of Student Assembly vice president following the news that he had spent $138.51 from the Student Assembly’s banking account on personal expenses.
Pilchen used a Student Assembly check card to make personal purchases in a two-week period from the end of last April to mid-May. Eight of his purchases, totaling nearly $60, were made at Wawa. Three purchases were made at the Student Exchange, totaling $13.50.
The first purchase was made at a Williamsburg cinema. Pilchen said that he pulled out the student check card accidentally and didn’t realize the mistake until he’d already paid. He told Valerie Hopkins (’09), Student Assembly president, about the charge and promised to pay the money back.
Pilchen paid back all money Tuesday morning.
The unauthorized charges were first discovered last Friday, when Student Assembly members realized they were missing the bank statement that covered the time period from mid-March to mid-April. They poured over the records all weekend and were able to account for all charges except those made by Pilchen.
Hopkins, S.A. Senator Matt Beato (’09), Senator Water McClean (’09), Secretary of Finance Yael Gilboa (’11) and Senate Finance Chair Caroline Mullis (’09) were the only five aware of the discrepancy when they confronted Pilchen about it Monday afternoon.
“He didn’t try to hide it at all,” said Gilboa. “He apologized profusely - to us, to everyone.”
According to S.A. rules, Pilchen should not have been able to use the card at all. At the time it was used, he was no longer the president, the only person authorized to make purchases using the card. However, due to the recent transition and the S.A.’s focus on registering student voters in Williamsburg and their own personal schedules, the account was not signed over until this Tuesday morning.
Hopkins and Gilboa took immediate action to prevent such charges from being made again.
“The check card was brought back to the bank and cut in front of me,” Hopkins told the Student Assembly shortly after Pilchen’s resignation.
Many members of the S.A. expressed support for Pilchen’s decision to resign, including Hopkins.
“All of you know that Zach is one of my closest friends, and it is difficult for me to imagine the S.A. without him. I respect him for deciding to resign, because I think it shows that he is putting the best interests of your Student Assembly before anything else,” Hopkins said.
“It’s really unfortunate in this respect that all of us have to pay for Zach’s actions,” Hopkins later added, referring to the fact that many S.A. members reported being approached by disheartened and disillusioned students.
“I think that it was probably the right thing because it would have been difficult for him to be taken seriously in certain matters with the administration in the future with this in his past,” Beato commented. “I think that Zach understood that and that’s why he made his decision.”
Not all S.A. members thought that Pilchen made the right choice by resigning.
“I am not embarrassed by what Zach did,” said Senator Steven Nelson (’10). “I don’t think it was wrong and I don’t think he should have resigned.” He urged S.A. members to “get out of the S.A. bubble” and realize that the campus wasn’t as upset as they believed.
Nelson later sent an e-mail to the Student Assembly list-serve with further comments.
“I do not think that Zach was given the benefit of the doubt in this situation or that the news broke in a fair way,” Nelson wrote. “I am sorry though if any of you in S.A. felt personally insulted by what I said. I was not inferring anyone in particular in any comment and do not blame anyone in S.A. for what happened.”
Gilboa agreed. “This has been blown way out of proportion by the Flat Hat,” she said. “I think Zach Pilchen was very capable and competent at doing his job. He did not have any malicious intent.”
“I think before today there was no actual talk of him seriously resigning,” Gilboa continued. “I think today after everyone’s reaction to the [Flat Hat] article, after the article itself, he felt he had to.”
The S.A. has already passed a bill promising a full investigation.
“I assure the student body that the executive and the Senate Finance Committee will be actively reevaluating executive spending limits to ensure that not even a penny of S.A. money spent for personal use again,” Hopkins wrote in a statement.
According to Senate rules, a new vice president will be chosen within 15 academic days, or three weeks. Hopkins has announced that all members involved in the investigation will not be considered, ruling out McClean, Mullis and Beato as options for the spot.
“What’s interesting is that if it’s a senior, she’ll probably be going with prior experience,” Beato said. “If it’s a junior or a sophomore, everyone will probably be thinking whether this person would run for S.A. president the following year. Because Valerie and Zach were seniors, that was out of the question but now it might not be. I think that person, if things went well this year, would have a huge advantage if they ran.”