The president of the University System of Maryland Student Council announced his resignation Thursday morning.
Kennard Wallace, a graduate student at the University of Baltimore, stepped down as the council’s president in order to serve on the Prince George’s County Board of Education, said Brandon Wharton, the council’s director of communications and marketing.
Gayon Sampson, undergraduate affairs vice president, will assume the role of president, and the council will hold elections for Sampson’s vacated position “sometime soon,” Wharton said.
In his announcement, Wallace wrote that it has been “a great honor and privilege” to serve as the council’s president and lay the groundwork for several initiatives, including a universal bereavement procedure, campaigns promoting student and faculty diversity and a study on grading practices.
“While I will not a be a formal part of these truly exceptional initiatives any longer, I remain committed to advocating on behalf of students in Maryland of all ages and will continue to be a resource to you, should you require it,” Wallace wrote. “I do look forward to continuing my passion for education, albeit in a slightly different capacity.”
The council will continue to focus on these initiatives under Sampson’s leadership, Wharton said.
The USM Student Council serves “as an advocate and as a resource” for the institutions and regional centers that belong to the University System of Maryland and facilitates best practices across state public universities, Wharton said.
The council elected Wallace president in the spring, and he has been serving since July 1, Wharton said. Wharton called Wallace driven, motivated and goal-oriented, and said he is proud to see Wallace pursue his new position.
“Kennard’s done a great job as president,” said Wharton, a junior political science and mass communication major at Towson University. “[He is] very passionate about education — both K-12 and higher education — and that’s an opportunity that he was really interested in and I’m very glad that he is going to have the opportunity to work with them and to make Prince George’s County schools even better.”
Student Government Association President Patrick Ronk, who serves as a council representative, said Wallace’s resignation surprised him. While Wallace laid the groundwork for several projects, his departure could pose a challenge for the council moving forward, Ronk said.
“Gayon’s really competent, so I think he’ll do a good job, but frankly I don’t think it puts USM Student Council in a great position right now,” said Ronk, a senior government and politics major. “You need constant leadership to set policy goals and actually get them done throughout the year, and it’s hard to kind of ‘change horses midstream,’ to borrow a Lincoln quote.”
“I think Gayon’s more than up to the task of doing it but it’s not going to be easy,” Ronk said.
In his announcement, Wallace wrote that “the council’s governance will not be disrupted by my early departure.”
