Newly Elected AS President Unexpectedly Resigns

Angela Chinn formally resigned her post as the president of the 2009-2010 Associated Students Executive Board during the final AS meeting of the spring semester, in an unexpected turn-of-events.This comes just two weeks after she and her slate, United for Pasadena Students, were elected as the new AS Board.

Chinn sent a letter of resignation to the Courier on Wednesday stating her admittance to USC in the fall as her reason for resigning.

"I had applied to my three dream schools (Stanford, USC and Duke) in February and mid-March with no intention of running for ASPCC president," she said in the letter.

"I was convinced that I would not get into any of the schools I applied to," she said. Chinn had applied three times before to Stanford and USC and was rejected.

Under the AS constitution the Board is not allowed to appoint a new president, rather Allen Tsay, the VP of Internal Affairs, ascended to the position as president.

Chinn said that by late April she had decided to run as AS president and would turn down all acceptance letters except Stanford to stand as president.

"At that point, I began to put together a slate [for] ASPCC Executive Board. Subsequently, I received both my rejection email from Stanford and rejection letter from Duke within in the same week," said Chinn.

Chinn opted to defer her USC acceptance but was told by USC admissions office that her request could possibly be rejected.

"But in the end, I could not disappoint my family and could not forfeit the opportunity to study Ethnic Studies and Public Policy at USC," she said. "I waited until the day of the enrollment fee deadline to commit to USC.

Despite her resignation, Chinn is avidly supportive of her fellow board members and feels obliged to continue helping them.

"That's why I want to be invested in the future of PCC because without PCC I wouldn't have been able to get into [USC]," said Chinn.

"Looking back on the decisions I made up to this point, I realize that I should not have run for ASPCC President," said Chinn.

Tsay seemed optimistic of the news of his ascension to the post of president of the AS.

"[I felt] apprehensive at first, but I'm also really looking forward to next year," said Tsay. "I mean, I have a great team behind my back and Angela put together this great team already for me."

The positions of VP for Internal Affairs and VP for Cultural Diversity will be filled after the incoming AS Board sets an appointment timeline to promote and accept applicants.

"If they've done the process and they don't feel that they're going to have somebody, then the president can simply appoint somebody," said Rebecca Cobb, student affairs advisor.