Sheldon Nagesh resigned from UF's Student Senate Tuesday night following weeks of debate over his qualifications to represent his district.
Nagesh's resignation followed pressure from Orange and Blue Party senators who charged March 25 that he shouldn't be allowed to keep his District E seat because the address on his application to a Senate judiciary committee was for the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity house located in District A.
He was also under fire for listing a P.O. Box on his Senate application.
"It is my parting wish that the partisan politics that have thus far characterized this Senate term will be abandoned in favor of real service to the student body," Nagesh said during the Tuesday meeting.
An April 2 hearing by the Senate's Rules and Ethics Committee recommended Nagesh be cleared of the charges because his Houston address on a driver's license and his P.O. Box qualified him to represent District E under Student Body statutes.
Nagesh's announcement shocked some Orange and Blue Party senators who said they anticipated chiding the rest of the Senate for their decision to uphold the Rules and Ethics committee recommendation.
Mark McShera, Orange and Blue Party chairman, said the planned rebukes were unnecessary.
Nagesh was appointed to the seat Feb. 19. He said he entered the position excited to serve students, but he could not perform those duties during the last two weeks.
"I fear that the intensely partisan nature of the attacks made against me will prevent my effective contribution to the proceedings of these chambers," he said.
In a bipartisan effort to clear up vague Student Body statutes that made Nagesh eligible for his seat with an out-of-state address, senators passed lengthy revisions that would revise qualifications for district candidates.
One of the new proposals requires students vying for district seats to verify their residence in that district prior to elections by providing mail delivered by the postal service, an Alachua County voter registration card, copies of a lease, homeowner's insurance, warranty deed, a utility or cable bill, or a note or lease from a fraternity or sorority house. The revisions will go through final consideration at next week's meeting.
Sen. Jordan Johnson, chairman of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, released plans to allocate almost $600,000 to student organizations and about $500,000 to be allocated to academic groups for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Those plans need approval by senators during the next two Senate meetings before they go into effect.
