After serving as ­­senator for the fall semester, senior Nilce Alvarez has decided to take step down from her Associated Students of Whitman College position due to health reasons.

Though the second semester is well into its second month, her seat has yet to be filled, and ASWC has begun reaching out to runners-up in the election last spring.

Alvarez decided not to return to ASWC during winter break and has cut back on her involvement at Whitman to focus on recovery.

“I quit senate and every other responsibility including most of my academics because of health reasons. As a matter of fact, I was contemplating a leave of absence this semester but decided to stay and extend my studies into next semester [and] delay my graduation to December while I take care of my health,” said Alvarez in an email.

Currently, the ASWC Senate is in the beginning stages of filling the open position. During the process, junior and ASWC Oversight Chair Audrey Vaughan has to ask each candidate individually and allow him or her the proper amount of time to think about the position.

“People have to think about it and decide whether they have time for it or interest holding the position. So it takes a couple days for each person to decide, and doing it over email is hard as well,” said Vaughan.

Since the position is an elected position, it will be filled by one of the runners-up. With the plentiful number of qualified runners-up, Vaughn is unsure which runner-up will take the position.

“As we’ve done in the past, we’re going through the list of runners-up in the election to see if they’re interested in the position,” said Vaughan. “I can’t remember the exact number, but there is a good number of them.” 

Although Alvarez decided to resign from her position as a senator midway through this fall semester, she was able to finish up her obligations and leave everything tied up.

“Because it happened at the beginning of this semester, over winter break, she was able to wrap up things from last semester and not leave anything hanging,” said Vaughan.

Filling the open position is a process that requires time and efforts of other ASWC members. However, ASWC is understanding of Alvarez’s need to stay healthy.

“I’m happy [Alvarez] is taking care of herself, and I think it was the right decision to resign, and there are not any hard feelings or anything. I’m excited to find out who is going to fill the position,” said Vaughan.