News Perspective

Student Senate reflects on its negative perception

Now that elections are finally complete and two-thirds of Student Senate have been newly elected, Senate is starting to focus on business as usual.

Senators, however, are aware of their problems.

Senators junior Erika Hansen, junior Aaron Leavy, sophomore Kate Davoli, junior Jane Glynn and junior Micah Thorner agree that Senate has been going through problems that include retention and lack of interest in senatorial proceedings.

"There is a lot of work to be done," said senator Erika Hansen.

Most senators feel that the lack of interest in Senate and retention of senators is linked to a lack of understanding of Senate's purpose, what it does and what it can accomplish.

Senators said they felt candidates for senatorial seats contributed to the general misunderstanding. Many feel that candidates for Senate do not comprehend that Senate is not the best resource to accomplish the goals of special interest groups, but rather that Senate represents the general interest of the entire student body.

"Coming to Senate to represent special interests is just not going to happen," said Thorner.

Candidates do not understand the kind of duties and the work they are getting into. According to Thorner, since Senate is seen as a body that does not do anything, candidates are surprised at the amount of work done by senators. This leads to the rash of resignations, seen in previous years, which further de-legitimizes Senate.

"If people realized before they get on Senate what they're getting into, it would make retention and interest go up," Thorner said.

"The main problem is that people who run for Senate ... don't read the Constitution ... which is in the back of fussers," said Hansen.

Senate's legitimacy, many agree, leads to the lack of interest in Senate and retention. All of the senators made some mention that, because their work is primarily behind the scenes, it causes them to loose this legitimacy.

"We don't stand out in front of the administration building and eat fire," said Hansen about their behind the scenes work.

"We worked our asses off," said Glynn. She pointed out that most of the student body does not realize that Senate was conducting interviews for student seats for committees like Student Life and Educational Plans and Policies while running elections. At that time there were only five senators.

"I've heard several students proclaim the opinion that Senate is unnecessary and should be dissolved, but I believe that if Senate were to disappear, these same students would probably be upset by the fact that no students sat on the General Faculty or were involved in appointing students to committees," said Hansen.

Most senators agree that student committee participation is important in allowing students a say in College governance, and therefore conducting interviews for the student seats is one of the most important Senate responsibilities.

Glynn and Thorner both noted that some students find it difficult to come to Senate because it can be threatening.

Senate's bureaucratic meetings are not very welcoming, said Thorner. The feminist process which Senate uses is unfamiliar to most students.

Glynn said that Senate's lack of diversity could be uncomfortable to some. "I hope that's something we work hard to change," she said.

Coming up with a plan for change or how to deal with other problems that senators are aware of, seems to be a problem in and of itself.

When asked what they could be doing to alleviate misconceptions, legitimize their position and stir up interest, senators' general response was to just keep doing what they've been doing.

"Now that we have enough people to help us, we show how it works by doing it," said Davoli.

"We need to get more moxy," said Hansen in regards as to how to drum up interest. She said that candidates have moxy to get elected but that it dies down once they've gotten elected.

Leavy had an interesting take on the subject. "We need to change the way we see the student body," he said. "We need to open dialogue. We need to speak with the students rather than at them."

Senators differed on how publicity would play a role. Some felt they were doing all that they could to publicize themselves and their work; others felt that Senate wasn't doing near enough.

No senator could give a plan of attacking the problems besides doing the same things they were doing.

Nonetheless, Senate is full-force and underway for the year. The group seems to have high hopes for the rest of the year, despite its slow start.