Student Senate

Student Senate elections ended Thursday, May 17 at 4 p.m.

Student Senate serves two primary purposes. First, it is the student body's legislative body for student affairs, most notably the distribution of club budgetary money and disbursement of the Senate Discretionary Fund. Second, it is the students' primary advocate for student interests to the faculty, staff, and administration, and to that end passes a lot of resolutions and conducts a lot of committee work making recommendations for reform, which may or may not be blithely ignored by everybody else.

Student Senate periodically tries to take over other organizations, including Union Board. Late in 2006 and early in 2007, they also attempted to censure TKS, but free speech prevailed. Senate is also turning into an aristocracy by requiring that the President serve three terms on Seante and that the four paid officers must be on campus for their entire term.Student Senate does not have jurisdiction over The Wiki Fire, much as it might try.

Senate meets every Thursday at 7 PM in SMC A112.

Senators

Senators are elected early in Fall Term to serve for the school year. Each year the Executive Board draws election districts from which senators are elected.

See also List of current and former District Senators

Executive Board

The Executive Board, comprising the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer (and since 2006 the four committee chairs), steers the activities of Senate and draws election districts. The Executive Board meets once a week, but nobody knows when, and no minutes are published.

The four executive officers are the four members of the Student Life Committee (SLC), which distributes the Student Activity Fee Fund (approx. $300,000 for 2006-07).

The Student Life Committee voted to pay the four executive officers a stipend of approximately 10 hours per week ($2,000?) during the summer of 2006 and was not discussed by the general student senate. The stipend is identical to those paid to student leaders of organizations like Union Board, Catch and TKS. Those stipends have been in place for many years.

See also List of current and former Executive Board members

Committees

There are five standing Student Senate committees: Dining Services, Finance, Residential Quality of Life, Safety and Services, and Technology. They each meet once a week throughout the week to discuss campus issues and write resolutions.

Committee Meeting Times: <properties> Dining Services=Tuesday, 1:10 PM Finance=Monday, 5:30 PM Residential Quality of Life=Friday, 4 PM Safety and Services=Monday, 8 PM Technology=Tuesday, 12 PM </properties>

Student Senate Update

At least once per week the Communications Officer sends a Student Senate Update e-mail to the entire campus, containing the minutes of the previous meeting. These minutes are meant to be word-for-word, but as a single person collects them by typing them as quickly as possible as things are said, they are generally not completely verbatim. The only way to get the full experience is to attend the meeting.

Club Budget Process

The Finance Committee administrates the club budget process. At the beginning of Spring Term, representatives of all clubs must attend a meeting that explains the process. Soon after all clubs may bring draft budgets to members of the Finance Committee, who can provide assistance. All clubs submit final drafts, and then the committee apportions funds based on the total quantity of money available from the Student Activity Fee.

Budget Process 2006

The budget decisions in 2006 caused a huge uproar because several clubs received less money then was usual when they failed to follow the detailed budget rules correctly. Notable clubs that protested their assignments at the 18 May 2006 Senate meeting included Caxton Club, Martial Arts Club, Badminton Club, Cricket Club, and Common Ground.

The problems with the 2006 process led to major reforms and simplifications in the budget process during the 2006-2007 school year. Many say the subsequent budget process has gone much more smoothly, but for others, concerns remain regarding a variety of changes such as the new cap on the budget a club can request for a year and a (much lower) cap on additonal funds/budget requests for a new club's first year.

Demographics

Note: These are estimations only.

There are a total of 57 senators on Student Senate (including the Executive Board):

• 38 (67%) are male (44% of campus).
• 19 (33%) are female (56% of campus).
• 32 (56%) are Greek-affiliated (~35% of campus)
• 23 (40%, 61% of total males) are Greek-affiliated males
• 9 (16%, 47% of total females) are Greek-affiliated females
• 1 (2%) is an international student (7% of campus)
• 10 (18%) are students of color (15% of campus)
• 13 (23%) are Class of 2007
• 14 (25%) are Class of 2008
• 14 (25%) are Class of 2009
• 16 (28%) are Class of 2010

Of the Executive Board:

• 7 (88%) are male
• 1 (13%) is female
• 6 (75%) are Greek-affiliated
• 0 are international students
• 0 are students of color
• 1 (13%) is Class of 2007
• 4 (50%) are Class of 2008
• 3 (38%) are Class of 2009

Greek representation

Of all Senate:

• 15 (26%) are Tau Kappa Epsilon
• 5 (9%) are Kappa Kappa Gamma
• 4 (7%) are Delta Delta Delta
• 3 (5%) are Phi Gamma Delta
• 3 (5%) are Sigma Chi
• 2 (4%) are Beta Theta Pi
• 2 (4%) are Sigma Nu
• 0 are Pi Beta Phi
• 25 (43%) are unaffiliated

Of the Executive Board:

• 3 (38%) are Tau Kappa Epsilon
• 1 (13%) are each of Delta Delta Delta, Phi Gamma Delta, and Beta Theta Pi
• 2 (25%) are unaffiliated

See also

• List of Current and Former Student Senators
• Text of Student Senate Constitution and Bylaws
• Student Senate official website