Undergraduate Council (UC) Vice President Ian W. Nichols ’06 resigned last night at the UC’s weekly meeting, and several friends said that he had been forced out of his position.

In a speech lasting less than a minute, Nichols told the UC—of which he has been a member since his freshman year—that he was resigning before walking out of the meeting.

“I don’t feel I’ve really made the UC my number one priority this semester and I don’t know if this whole split ticket thing is working out,” Nichols said at the meeting. “Take care guys, it’s been real.”

UC members have criticized Nichols recently for his absence from UC events.

The UC will elect a new vice president at its next meeting, which will take place by next Sunday.

Nichols’ announcement was met with surprised silence from UC members present at the meeting.

Joshua A. Barro ’05, a former UC member, said that Nichols told him he had been faced with the choice of being impeached or resigning shortly before the UC meeting.

“He told me that there was an ultimatum,” Barro said.

Nichols did not respond to repeated requests for comment last night.

Tracy “Ty” Moore II ’06, who unsuccessfully ran for president with Nichols, said Nichols told him that members of the Executive Board spoke with Nichols before the meeting about resigning.

“He was utterly surprised that they were disappointed in his level of dedication,” Moore said.

But UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 disagreed with the characterization that Nichols had been forced to resign.

“It’s a very hard situation because many members of the Council brought legitimate grievances to me and it’s my responsibility to bring those grievances to the council and I talked to Ian about them and he chose to resign,” Glazer said.

UC Communications Director Neeraj “Richie” Banerji ’06 said that Nichols had chosen to resign of his own volition.

“He was not forced out and he chose to resign instead of facing embarrassment, criticism, or other actions for what he called his own negligence,” Banerji said.