DeKALB – After nearly four years of service, Speaker Dallas Douglass has announced his plans to step down as speaker of the Student Government Association.

Serving as speaker of the senate since March 2021, Douglass announced his departure at Friday’s SGA senate meeting.

“Several months ago, I began to consider stepping down in mid-April to turn my attention toward graduation and my coursework since academics are my top priority,” Douglass said. “After almost four years of service to the Student Government Association, I feel I have made mistakes but also a lot of progress toward making SGA accessible, equitable and functional for the student body.”

Douglass’ resignation will be taking effect on Wednesday, with Deputy Speaker Debbie Allen taking over as speaker. Douglass will remain in SGA as a senator and a member of the board of elections.

“I’ll spend the beginning of next week helping incoming Speaker Allen adjust to her new role and updating the transition materials that I was given when I took office in 2021,” Douglass said. 

Earlier in the meeting, NIU alum and former SGA Senator Sid Kincaid gave a public comment reminding the SGA of the importance of following the Open Meetings Act.

The SGA recently violated the OMA by failing to upload meeting agendas within the designated time frame.

During the comment, Kincaid said an incident in 2015 where the OMA was violated prompted him to take the SGA to court in a case that was eventually settled. Since then, he has been following the SGA’s activities.

“Production and maintenance of accurate records and meeting minutes is necessary to ensure that the decisions made by the senate will be implemented and understood by future sessions,” Kincaid said.

SGA meetings are open to the public and held at 2 p.m. on Fridays, with locations posted in the senate’s agendas. SGA minutes and intent to speak forms are available on Huskie Hub.