The Student Senate will address the possible elimination of student political parties at its meeting today.

The proposal is an amendment to the currently enacted Elections Reform Act, which lays out the rules for student government elections of who can run, how they can campaign and how they can be elected. It is typically revised every semester.

Student Senate Speaker Zach Samples said he thinks the student political parties are a good idea.

“If you look at this year’s executive elections, all those who ran were members of a political party except one who did not win the election,” Samples said. “So because of this, people have this notion that you have to be in a party to run, which is not the case,”

Samples said along with hoping to recruit more people to run for positions, this is also an effort for Eastern to align with other student governments across the nation.

Samples said the majority of other universities do not have student governments with political parties.

Brian Shields, a graduate student who was appointed to the Student Senate on March 7, is a sponsor on the reform proposals.

“Without political parties, people can focus on senate as a whole, not groups within a group,” Shields said.

The senate could vote on bylaw change concerns making senate voting records public and a constitution change to add a vote of no confidence to election ballots, meaning the voter does not approve of any of the candidates.

Roberto Luna, a senior business major and Student Senate member, said the publication of voting records is something that the senate passed last year, but was forgotten about. By adding it into the bylaws, it will be a requirement.

Luna said the same is true with the constitution change. Currently there is nothing in the constitution that forbids a vote of no confidence option.

“It would be just another thing that has to be remembered from year to year,” Luna said. “Currently they are having to option whether or not to put it on the ballot, we are hoping to fix that loophole.”

The group will meet at 7 p.m. today in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].