Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senator Dakota Driemeyer resigned from his position Monday morning to work on a political campaign in Illinois and will take a leave of absence from USC.
Driemeyer, who also served as president of USC College Republicans, told Annenberg Media he resigned primarily to work on the campaign but that a “variety of issues” contributed to his decision, including what he described as treatment by other USG members over Driemeyer’s political beliefs.
Driemeyer tendered his resignation just hours before the start of the annual USG retreat, speaker of the Senate Jeremiah Boisrond confirmed to Annenberg Media. In his resignation letter, Driemeyer said he would also be taking a leave of absence from USC to work “directly on the ground in Illinois” to “advance the Conservative movement.”
Driemeyer would not disclose which political campaign he was working on. There is an open campaign for a U.S. Senate seat currently held by Senator Dick Durbin, a race expected to be high profile over the next year.
Driemeyer was elected to a USG Senate position in late February on a platform of uplifting what he called “maligned” conservative voices on campus. He was sworn in on April 29.
In his same resignation letter, Driemeyer said he saw the “tendency for political conformity to overshadow open dialogue” over his time in student government, and expressed a hope that USG will be “honest with itself.”
The Senate met twice over the summer, Driemeyer voting on official matters both times.
At a June 17 meeting, Driemeyer opposed the appointment of the Student Assembly for Gender Empowerment’s co-executive directors, calling the organization “diametrically opposed to the social values of Catholics, Christians, and Conservatives on this campus” for SAGE’s support of abortion rights.
College Republicans faced criticism online this summer. In June, College Republicans posted an Instagram story with an image of the 9/11 attacks and the caption “NYC has forgotten” after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. Trojan Democrats called the post Islamophobic for equating the 2001 terrorist attacks to the election of a Muslim politician. Afterwards, Driemeyer signed off on a statement defending the post on the club’s Instagram account. He said the dustup affected his relationship with USG.
Since then, Driemeyer said, other senators have “treated [him] like an individual who is less than human.”
Boisrond said Driemeyer “hasn’t once expressed” these sentiments to the Senate. Prior to Monday, Driemeyer never communicated any intention to resign, Boisrond said.
His resignation leaves a vacant position in the Senate. USG will hold a special election in the coming weeks to fill the position, Boisrond said.
Driemeyer said College Republicans had elected a new president to take over his position while he is on a leave of absence. The club did not respond to requests for comment.
Driemeyer said he currently plans to return to USC to finish his degree after the campaign.