Dear Editor,

When I read Friday’s page one article on Student Senate vacancies, it felt like déjà vu all over again. Once again, the senate is desperately trying to fill half of its seats in order to meet quorum.

As a former student senator, I would like to offer an explanation as to why these large vacancies are happening every semester, as well as some possible solutions to remedy the situation.

First, I want to say that it was an honor to serve my fellow students. I was excited to be a part of the senate, and I looked forward to addressing issues facing our campus. However, I was a little surprised as to why the Senate was suddenly filling 15 vacant seats last August, despite holding elections the previous spring. That seemed unusual to me, and it did not take me long to understand why.

1.) There are no political parties within the senate; a change from previous years. Today, if you take issue with Senate policies, or your ideas get stuck in committee, your only recourse is to meet with an executive board member. You don’t have a party that can assist you in publicizing an issue throughout campus.

2.) The mandatory time commitment is exhaustive; especially for students who live off campus, or are involved in other campus organizations. Not only are strict attendance policies in place (unlike any other governing body I’ve ever studied), but you are also required to attend weekly committee meetings, fulfill at least two weekly office hours (working on senate related issues), as well as attend a wide variety of other campus activities that are not related to your senate tasks. While that may not seem unreasonable by itself, try plugging that into your school work, part-time job, sorority/fraternity commitments, commute to and from school (an hour and a half, in my case) and of course, your homework.

You may say that having these commitments, and still applying for student senate would be going “in over your head”, but considering that the senate represents all students on campus, it needs to be reflective of all demographics of EIU’s student body; not simply those with convenient circumstances.

By November, after three months of dealing with these and other internal senate frustrations, I was fed up, and submitted my resignation. While I am no longer a member, I still love this campus, and believe that a strong and healthy student government is essential to the university experience.

Furthermore, I believe that our Student Senate can be improved by implementing a few small procedural changes that can foster a more welcoming environment and efficient outcomes.

1.) Reduce the mandatory time commitments. Allow senators to participate as they have the time to do so. While excessive absences from regular meetings should be cause for impeachment, senators who aren’t bogged down by excessive time demands will be more effective in their areas of personal interest and skill, and will likely wish to remain in the senate throughout their college career. A more inviting senate, that is less authoritarian in its internal governing will also lead to more competitive elections; weeding out senators who do not carry their weight.

2.) Reduce “consent agendas” (for such issues as approving new campus RSOs and student appointments on campus committees) and “emergency spending” bills. Nearly every week during my service, most of our essential functions were voted on through one of these two less than clear approaches. Consent agendas require approval of just two senators! During my three months on the senate, we voted on just one traditional bill.

In closing, I want to make clear that the purpose of this letter is not to discourage students from joining student senate. In fact, we need you! But at the same time, I want our new senators to demand internal changes so that we don’t keep repeating this unacceptably high rate of turnover. If this is not addressed, the senate will continue spending more time and effort training new senators every semester, and less time serving the students of Eastern Illinois University.

Jonathan M. Williams, political science graduate student