Senate adopts new government structure

Need for change highlighted by resignations

The Student Senate weathered dramatic changes this year. With the resignation of visible senators at the beginning of second semester, and a push for restructuring the the Senate was forced evaluate its structure.

Senator juniors Joshua Kaye and Chapin Benninghoff resigned in a Senate meeting in mid February siting structural flaws in Senate. Benninghoff said in February, "The fundamental flaw is a structural problem. It can't be solved from within. I am disappointed in the people who are senators who remain without a mandate to act on representation of the student body."

Former senator and senior, Joel Witaker, said, "It's no mystery that the constitution is flawed. [It contains] pie-in-the-sky ideas about how excited Oberlin students are going to be in student government.

After a total of four senators resigned from Senate, Witaker formed a group of concerned students to seek implementation of student government reform. Senators debated the necessity for change in Senate. Senator sophomore Chuckie Kamm said in March, "There are senators that don't think Senate should be restructured; most of those who resigned do. I don't think restructuring Senate will make much of a difference."

Despite the satisfaction of some with the current Senate, Witaker saw the reforms in Senate structure as important changes in student government. Witaker said, "The Senate will be more accessible to the people with the best ideas, and they'll be better supported [giving a chance for] student activists and senators to use student government to advance their goals."

Witaker's group drafted a reformed student constitution in late March that imposed major structural changes from the old system. Among the changes contained in the proposed constitution was "a smaller, more focused, more representative Senate," Witaker said. Institutional organizational senators were eliminated in place of an endorsement system for a fully at-large Senate. The proposal suggested a 15 member Senate as opposed to today's 30 member body.

The proposal also opened faculty committee appointments up to the general student body. With the new involved students, the Senate would create advisory councils made up of the student faculty committee members of similar causes. For example, an 'Academic Issues Advisory Council" would bring together the student members of the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, Distribution and Advising and Individual Majors Committees according to Witaker.

The proposal improved accountability standards for senators and student committee members and created the Senate's ability to oversee of the Student Finance Committee. The plan to provide stipends for senators was instrumental in the greater demands.

Witaker said, "Senators have significant responsibility and time-consuming duties. Every senator must be either an Officer or chair of an Advisory Council, serve on the General Faculty (or College or conservatory Facutly and at least on one faculty committee, and hold regular dorms raps and office hours. A stipend would compensate senators for a workload that is comparable to many work-study jobs, and would ensure that students with financial need would be able to run for Senate."

With the proposal up for a vote, the Senate blitzed the campus to generate the majority needed to in place the revised constitution. In a week long effort by the Senate, 52 percent of the student body, or 1,484 students, voted. Ninety-five percent of those who voted, voted in support of the student government proposal. With the student support, the proposal was placed on the table of the General Faculty. It passed with little debate.

Witaker said of the vote, "We absolutely blitzed the campus. I never thought we'd get 50 percent of the campus to vote on anything in seven days. That's never happened before...I was shocked."

The Senate finished off the year with a small mishap in its election for new senators. The paper and electronic voting instructions told voters to vote for different numbers of candidates, but the Senate decided to suspend bylaws to avoid invalidating the election.