The Daily Campus

Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Kevin McQuade USG President Ryan McHardy, seen here in an October file photo, announced on Jan. 9 that he was resigning as USG president, effective today.

Ryan McHardy has resigned from his post as student body president, effective today.

McHardy said he decided to resign to focus on schoolwork and an Internet company that he is creating with a friend.

"My goal was never to do this and just to hold a position or have a title and really accomplishing [my goals] kind of gave me the freedom to focus on some other things this semester," McHardy said. "I've tried to figure out how to make days longer, but I've never really succeeded."

According to McHardy, his business will focus on research and consulting. "We're doing a lot of things from marketing, web-design, market research, financial analysis, non-profit consulting and policy analysis, and business plan revisions…kind of a one stop shop." He said that they will be dealing with small businesses.

McHardy, a political science and economics major who plans to graduate at the end of the semester, has served on USG for almost three and a half years, including 20 months as president, with this being his second term.

He feels that he and his USG counterparts have accomplished enough of their goals for him to turn his attention toward new ventures.

"We had over the summer really completed a lot of the things that we had laid out to complete," McHardy said. "So, I kind of took an assessment of where we were, what we had left to do and really as I was looking at all that, we had accomplished just about everything."

Those accomplishments include redistributing a student rights handbook that informs students of their rights at the university and doubling the number of sessions of the university funding board, which makes it easier for student groups to get access to funds for their programs. USG is also in the process of launching a new website with the minutes and topics from all the committees, which McHardy believes will make it easier for all students to be involved with what USG is doing.

McHardy says he is confident that he leaves the organization in capable hands.

"This is our largest group we've ever had in the organization's history," he said. "They're all committed people who all do just a fantastic job. It made my decision a lot easier in deciding to take a step back. Now it's just a well functioning machine with a lot of great leaders who care a lot about different issues, but they all care and kind of use USG as a vehicle now to get things done for the students, which is great."

Continued...

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