Last night was the first meeting of the 68th ASOSU senate. I am serving as one of the College of Engineering (CoE) Graduate Student Senators. Quite possibly, I am the only CoE grad senator. Since the undergraduate and graduate senates were combined into one body at the end of last year, definitions of who represents what amongst the grad students has become a bit muddied, in my oppinion. Much like the Student Alumni Association Council, another group that I sit on, it seems that many of the people in the senate are from the Greek system.
The two legislative issues considered tonight were S-68-B-01 and S-68-B-02. The final text of both bills should be on the Senate website within a day or two of posting this. The first bill does away with the position of Projects Coordinator and replaces it with an Executive Chief of Staff position. The pay scale and hours per week are still the same but the new position has executive signing authority that the old position did not. There was a minor wording change in the bill before it was passed. I voted in favor of the bill.
In general, the senate recieves bills for consideration one week prior to them coming up on the floor for discussion and a vote. Last night, S-68-B-02 was sprung upon us as a surprise. We were told that the sponsors of the bill, Senator Segura and Senator Schmitz, had only written it the day before. In general, I agree with the content of the bill which is why I voted in favor of it, but I was not pleased how it was launched upon us at such a late date. Many other senators were not, either. After a lengthy period of questions and discussion, the bill was voted on. The bill passed but with almost half of the senate obstaining from voting. All senators are now required to host a voter registration drive in two of their classes.
Business then moved on to confirming executive positions. The senate confirmed everyone.
Next up was executive senator nominations. The six executive senators interface with the executive branch of student government to hammer out problems between the two groups. After some wrangling, six senators stepped up to fulfill the role.
Vice chair nominations happened next. Two senators were nominated for the position. Senator Plouse, representing the undergraduates of the College of Engineering, won. Convincing arguments were made in his favor with respect to the position being a stepping stone to prepare him for larger student government roles in the future.
The final real piece of business of the evening caused a bit of a heated discussion. Senators are required to hold one office hour per week to meet with their constituents. The senate chair and perhaps others decided and implemented a rule starting with this year’s senate that requires all senators to hold their office hour in Snell Hall in the ASOSU senate office. Senate Chair Taylor made several statements that was taken by some, including me, to indicate his distrust of senators to be able to hold office hours on their own without monitoring by him and the ASOSU staff. From his anectodtes, most senators in the past did not hold their office hours as they said they did. Senators from the College of Engineering and the College of Vet Medicine, among others, were quite peeved with the idea of having to walk across campus to sit in an office where they would be very disconnected from their constituents. After a raucous discussion, someone moved to create some legislation which allowed for exemptions on a case-by-case basis with the senate chair serving as soul arbiter. It isn’t the best legislation, but it passed (I voted for it). I’ve already put my request in to relocate my office hour to my actual office and lab in Rogers 222. Chair Taylor will be visiting me today to discuss my request. It will be interesting to see the result of our discussion.
The senate resessed after being reminded of the senate class offered this year.