Chairman of hardship parking protests ?ring

Applications for student government external committees will be released today — including for the recently vacated posts of chairman of the Student Safety and Security and Hardship Parking committees.

Last month, Connor Brady, the former chairman on those committees, was fired by Student Body President Will Leimenstoll.

Leimenstoll said permanent replacements would be in place by February, and interim chairmen would be named this week to ensure a smooth transition.

Andrew Cooper, a member of the Hardship Parking Committee, said the timing of Leimenstoll’s decision posed problems for the committee.

“It’s a bad thing the way it happened and the timing of it,” Cooper said.

“Connor was doing a good job for the Hardship Parking Committee.”

Leimenstoll’s decision has led to vocal protest from Brady, who also serves as speaker pro-tempore of Student Congress. He has started an online petition to have his positions reinstated. As of Tuesday evening, he had garnered nearly 200 signatures.

Leimenstoll said a combination of incidents led to his decision to fire Brady.

In September, Brady was reprimanded by Leimenstoll concerning some tweets by Brady about his work on the Hardship Parking Committee.

Brady admitted fault in the situation.

“Some of the things I tweeted were inappropriate,” he said.

But Brady said he wasn’t fired over the tweeting incident or any other reasons Leimenstoll offered.

Brady claims he was fired because of his vote to overturn Leimenstoll’s veto of a bill that would remove a stipend for the student body vice president.

Brady was fired on Dec. 6, two days after his vote. Leimenstoll’s veto was not overridden.

“To me, it’s obvious that this had to do with my vote,” he said.

Leimenstoll said the vote had nothing to do with his decision to fire Brady, and that Brady was fired as soon as Leimenstoll confirmed he had the authority to fire him.

Leimenstoll said Brady was fired for a pattern of disrespectful behavior.

“I don’t feel it has a place in my administration,” he said.

Student Body Vice President Rachel Myrick and Leimenstoll said they had received complaints about Brady’s behavior from administrators.

“It’s one thing if a person is causing trouble for Will and I, and it’s even one thing if the person’s causing trouble for another student,” she said.

“But when there’s an administrator complaining to us, that’s where we have to draw the line.”

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.