And then there were five

Senate numbers keep falling; senators hope to fill seats soon

Despite the lack of senators, Student Senate is moving along at a brisk pace. Of the seven senators that are officially remaining after last week's meeting, two more have resigned, leaving the remaining to deal with the pieces.

Former senior senator Adriana Lopez-Young made her resignation official at Sunday's meeting. Junior senator Atif Aziz also resigned. Remaining senators are first-year Liane Lau, sophomore Amy Pandjiris, sophomore Micah Thorner, sophomore Erika Hansen and first-year Chris Anton.

However, even with only five senators of the original 15 remaining, Senate continues to be productive. Thorner, Hansen and former senator junior Sarah Fineberg were able to finish interviews and appoint student representatives for eight committees.

Hansen was the second to last to hand in her resignation, shortly after Lopez-Young and before Aziz. She has since decided to remain on Senate for the semester. "I might as well still be a senator if I'm going to take on all this responsibility," she said. The senators agreed that the 14 candidates were led to believe that there were 10 seats to run for, and because the resignation of Aziz maintained that number, Hansen's decision not to resign was not an issue.

"I had been thinking of resigning in the fall semester because I had been thinking about the amount energy and time it was taking," Hansen said. Her reason for resigning was academics; however, she decided to remain to help explain process to the new senators. Hansen's senatorial duties include sitting on the Student Finance Committee and producing the Course Evaluation Guidebook.

Although most senators have been giving academic reasons for their resignations, questions of the reality of that excuse have crossed many minds. This is because there are many senators who have expressed dissatisfaction with the senate.

Former junior senator Aaron Slodounik pointed out that the large number of new senators at the beginning of last semester may have added to the intense debate over Senate processes. He suggested that Senate was so involved in changing process that they were unable to accomplish much. "There was a focus on changing the senate rather than on changing the College," he said. Slodounik expressed concern that incoming senators might have the same problem of wanting to change the process, imitating what he thought happened last semester.

Hansen believes that a lot of people had unreal expectations about the responsibility and time Senate would take. She took the perspective that if senators did not put their full effort into their job, then not much was accomplished. "I don't think a lot of them took [Senate] seriously. I think that some people did not realize the obligations of senators," she said. "Being a senator is what you make of it."

"I hope they will work effectively together," said former junior senator Sam Taylor. He, like Slodounik, thought that there was a definite strained dynamic in the Fall Senate. He also hoped that they will keep the student body interested in the work of Senate and Senate affairs, something that seemed to be lacking in the Fall.

Despite whatever issues caused the senate to have problems last semester, senators and former senators alike hope the upcoming semester is productive.

Elections for new senators will be finished when 20 percent of the student body votes. Senate plans to canvas votes in Stevenson Dinning Hall and possibly at Quarter Beers. Elections will hopefully be done by late next week in time for a short retreat and next Sunday's meeting.