“I want to really focus on finishing my master’s degree and doing a quality job with the jobs I have” - Neal Michals said about his resignation from the University Student Court

The chief justice of the University Student Court at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee resigned Thursday, putting the court’s status on hiatus.

The resignation of Neal Michals takes the court out of operation, according to Student Association governing documents. The document says that the court must have a quorum — three of the five justice positions filled — in order to be in operation.

“I am rapidly discovering that the time in a day is only allowing for three of these four (education, job, the University Student Court and my personal and social life) to successfully continue,” Michals wrote in his letter of resignation. “By continuing to attempt to balance all four, one or more of them may suffer.”

Michals' resignation from the court comes after he was unanimously approved to the court during the May 7 Student Association Senate meeting and elevated to chief justice during the July 30 Senate meeting.

“It was something I didn’t want to do, but I felt I had to do,” Michals said. “Whenever I commit to something, I want to know I can do a quality job.”

Michals served as a senator for the Student Association last year.

The resignation leaves the current student court’s membership at two: Ben Butz, who served as chief justice last semester; and Nathan Brandt, who was approved as a justice at an April 23 Senate meeting.

A phone place to SA President Samantha Prahl was not returned Sunday.

“I want to really focus on finishing my master’s degree and doing a quality job with the jobs I have,” Michals said.

Michals will still serve on a couple of committees, including the Search Committee for the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

Court’s makeup changing

The status of the student court over the past year has been one in constant fluctuation.

The court had been taken out of operation Feb. 24 when then Chief Justice Stan Rubins resigned amid a battle over the court’s budget.

The budget was approved at a Feb. 4 Student Association Senate meeting, but then SA President Russ Rueden vetoed it, Rueden said.

The court’s budget had been frozen for most of the fiscal year because there were not three justices — a condition required by the Senate’s bylaws — until November, when Amy Turrin was appointed by the Senate.

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