The Daily Delegate

Sonali Mascarenhas-Swan

As many members of Youth and Government know, our former 77th Youth Governor, Itzak Salazar, has officially stepped down from his position in Youth and Government. In his statement he said, “While I do not want to get into all the details, my decision to step away was the result of an argument that occurred between myself and the directors on the California Youth and Government Board”. When reached out to for comment the California Y had this to say;

“To protect and in respect of Itzak’s privacy as a minor, we will not discuss any additional details related to this matter”. 

Although many of the statements on social media have been the same, many people’s real opinions when asked about the situation varied; this is what some Youth and Government delegates had to say. When asked about the situation, Rhoda Collins from the Collins and Catz family stated, “I think Cal Y is stretching it, trying to make him step down and tell us that it was his own choice, I think that’s a violation of freedom of speech.”

Since he made his decision there have been many rumours circulating between delegates. 

An anonymous delegate commented,  “I don’t think there’s a side to take at the moment, because I think there’s been a lot of miscommunication and fabrication”. Some delegates however were completely unfazed by the situation. Vahan Grigoryan from the Foothills delegation said 

“I dont believe it should be the concern of anyone…. we need to avert our attention away from the Itzak situation because we have a lot of work to do”.   

An anonymous delegate had thoughts about the way he handled the situation. “I understand the frustration and why he did it, but I think it would have been better for the cause if he would have stated his concerns… but stepping away doesn’t really highlight all of the things we need to highlight, because people can forget it, they can dismiss it, but if he’s present it’s hard to dismiss him while he’s in front of you”. 

In sum most delegates can agree that Itzak Slazar has made a lasting impact on the program during his time at Youth and Government, Aidan Smith from the Anderson Munger delegation expressed that Itzak will be missed in the program “I really feel like without Itzak we’re missing a big part of our foundation in Youth and Gov.”