Kurt Gosselin announced his resignation as Student Services Finance Committee chair early Thursday morning to pursue social and academic goals.

“SSFC chair is really a Herculean task that involves quite a bit of time,” Gosselin said. “This semester alone I’ve put in 40 hours a week, and it’s probably been the same in semesters past. When I was looking at where I wanted to go in my life, I realized I couldn’t keep functioning the way I was functioning.”

Gosselin said his time would be better spent focusing on academics and preparing for the Law School Admissions Test he plans on taking in June.

Aside from improving his academics, Gosselin said relationships with family and friends were also being compromised by long hours at work.

“I obviously had to give up a lot of weekends and evenings in which I have been unable to pursue other things and do other things, and I came to the realization there are other things important to life other than ASM,” he said.

Gosselin said his two years invested in Associated Students of Madison as SSFC chair made his decision to resign very difficult.

“I have nothing but positive memories of SSFC,” Gosselin added. “And the committee will continue to work hard and still has a lot of good committee members who will continue to do good work as they move forward.”

Since ASM has completed its budgets and the committee is now moving onto the non-allocable stage of new constitution planning, Gosselin said this was the best time for him to leave.

Though he has resigned his post as SSFC chair, Gosselin is planning on finishing his term as a member of the Student Council and will be serving on the Student Activities Center Governing Board.

However, assuming the new constitution passes a student referendum later this month, Gosselin said he would not run for ASM president.

ASM Vice Chair Hannah Karns said Gosselin will be greatly missed as SSFC chair, but is thankful Gosselin is not leaving student government altogether.

“SSFC is a really big time commitment,” Karns said. “But if he says he has to focus on his academics, then he has to focus on his academics.”

Gosselin agreed the council has been very supportive about his decision and are pushing him to achieve his goals.

“I’ve gotten nothing but encouragement from committee members and other people within ASM, so I guess I would characterize the response as being sad but understanding,” Gosselin said. “They recognize the physical and emotional toll as well as the sacrifices I had to make to function at the level I was functioning at as chair.”

SSFC Vice Chair Carl Fergus will be taking over Gosselin’s responsibilities.

Gosselin added he is confident Fergus will be equally effective and thinks the committee is “in good hands.”