Senate Needs 1,500 Student Votes
BY ALYSON DAME

Student Senate would like to see more get done faster. In an effort to improve the efficiency of committees, Senate has created a referendum that would allow them to appoint committee members for the following year in the spring. While the referendum would exclude first-years from immediate participation in the committees targeted, it would allow committees such as the Student Finance Committee and the Educational Plans and Policies Committee to begin their work sooner in the fall. The referendum must be voted on by at least half of the student body.

“The issue was enabling the College’s committee structure to be up and running and functional as early as possible in September and for students to be represented as they’re supposed to be on these committees,” Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith said.
Evan Lovett-Harris, a sophomore senator, said that the idea had originated in the Dean of Students’ office. “Bill Stackman came to the meeting and recommended it to us,” he said.
Associate Dean of Students Bill Stackman is the advisor to Senate. “We’ve talked about [the idea] for four or five years,” Stackman said. Usually referendums are dealt with later in the spring, but the nature of this referendum made it more urgent. “If we waited until April to do this particular referendum they couldn’t make the appointments for next year,” Stackman said.
Neither Goldsmith nor Lovett-Harris was overly concerned by first-years not being able to participate. “I think that it’s much more problematic to not have people on committees like EPPC and SFC that need to get started,” Lovett-Harris said, adding, “I know SFC can’t operate without six members, so if there’s no one there, they can’t give out money and that’s a problem.”
Student members of Judicial Board have to go through training before being able to make decisions. According to Stackman, training did not begin until December this year. “I think we’re doing a real disservice to students when we don’t have everyone at the table that needs to be there,” Stackman said.
EPPC is another committee that will be affected by the referendum. “It’s important that students sit on the EPPC so that student voices can be heard on where professorships go,” Lovett-Harris said.
Goldsmith noted that it could be beneficial for first-years to gain some experience with the workings of the College before joining a committee, saying, “There are plenty of other ways for first-year students to get involved pretty early on.” 

Lovett-Harris was realistic about the likelihood that this would dramatically change the committee make-up. “Quite honestly, generally, Senate does not appoint first-semester freshmen to these committees just because they don’t have the experience.” 
Stackman said, “There will always be people who will drop out next fall, and those can be filled by first-years and transfer students.”
Possibly more difficult than passing the referendum will be finding enough students who will vote either way. A “neither” option has been added to the ballot for students who do not feel educated enough about the issue. Ballots will not be going in mailboxes, “Because we didn’t want to waste paper and generally they don’t have that high a success rate,” Lovett-Harris said.
He described Senate’s strategy as, “Mostly tabling and getting people where they eat,” and said that they would be talking to people as they stood in line for popular events, like Colors of Rhythm. “Although its not glamorous or that exciting, it’s important that you vote,” Lovett-Harris said.