The Student Senate will reconvene for the spring semester under Jarrod Scherle, a senior finance major and the new student senate speaker.

Scherle has been on the student senate for six semesters making him the second longest member of 2010 student senate.

After last semester’s online fall elections the senate has seven open seats due to senators not returning.

As speaker, Scherle is now in charge of appointing new senators until they are elected by the student body and said it will be his first order of business.

Scherle is currently the director of membership and recruitment of Panther Nation.

Panther Nation is currently Eastern’s largest group founded in 2009 by Student Body President Michelle Murphy.

Scherle plans to use his contacts and bring more of his recruitment ability from the Panther Nation to the student senate.

“I feel like I have a good grasp on where I can find the leaders on campus. Many of them I’m already friends with,” he said. “I’ll use my existing networks.”

Getting multiple view points will help the senate, Scherle said.

A new viewpoint might be needed according to the former Student Senate Speaker Jason Sandidge, who resigned from his position during the last senate meeting.

Sandidge said he did not see the senate his brother, Isaac, spoke of years before and therefore could not be a part of something he no longer believed in.

“I want you (senators) to think about why the student government has been called into question this year,” Sandidge said.

Tyson Holder, a student affairs graduate student, was on student senate for eight semesters also stepped down.

“I remember the same senate that (Isaac) Sandidge spoke of. In the past senators were able to leave the personal stuff out,” Scherle said. “There is definitely a different feel in the senate.”

Scherle along with Murphy and student senate member John Poshepny, a junior finance major, will be trying to implement a senator grading system in an attempt to hold those voted into power accountable.

“We will have an anonymous survey where every senator will review the executives, the speaker, and the committee chairs on whether or not they are living up to their expectations,” Scherle said.

Much like the actual senate, the student senate has been divided.

But, with spring elections Scherle said it could change with the appointing of new senators.

“It’s going to set the tone for if we are going to keep the same old same old or if we are going to turn ourselves around,” Scherle said. “Just because someone doesn’t agree with you on a political basis doesn’t mean we can’t be civil to one another.”

Student senators must maintain at least a 2.3 GPA, work at least two office hours a week, and be considered a full time student.

“We are looking for really good student leaders to represent the student body,” Scherle said.

Student senate applications are currently available in the Student Activities Center of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union and are due on Jan. 19.

Nike Ogunbodede can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]