Missing Money and Resignations Rock AELM

Missing Money and Resignations Rock AELM

By B.A.Umaña.

AELM Informative Board.

AELM (Asociación de Estudiantes de Lenguas Modernas) has been rocked repeatedly this semester as the vast majority of its members have resigned, leaving the association with a stagnating total of two individuals in its board. According to Natalie Torres, now head of the board, irregularities in the electoral process, theft, and extracurricular responsibilities have been the cause of this instability.

“In the assembly [of students where the board was chosen], we weren’t able to elect a treasurer or a board attorney due to the fact that […] no one was interested in taking the positions.”

This, said Torres, lead the board to give the duty of managing the associations money to one of their auxiliary members. “Because this auxiliary member rose to the position rather than taking it in the first place, she was unable to receive the proper training needed to handle the budget reports for the association, making it difficult to handle the paperwork she was responsible for.”

Natalie Torres in an interview for TCN. 

The situation worsened after they read the first report she prepared. Analyzing this document, they realized there were significant irregularities in the data she had, and, after checking the money they had in their reserves, they were further shocked to find out that around 200,000 colones were missing from their reserve.

“Because of this theft, the president of the board, the auxiliary member aforementioned, and our representative for the student council resigned,” Torres explains. “Aside from them, one other member decided to resign because he had work, and another was discharged because she was no longer a student of this school.”

Now, only Torres and Dennis Ruiz are members of AELM, and what makes everything worse is that a new board cannot be created.

“Because few of those that have unofficially resigned have not brought their resignation letters in,” Torres said. “We can’t have a new assembly.” This, adds Torres, puts a burden on her.