Last week, Student Senate voted on whether or not it should add a LGBT special interest seat. The bill failed to get the needed two-thirds majority to pass.
Senators who voted in favor for the bill numbered 18. There were 13 senators who voted against the bill.
But, a total of 14 senators were not present and could not vote on the controversial bill, which was the culmination of two years’ worth of efforts from the LGBT community to add a special interest seat to the senate chamber.
The Student Senate By-Laws list meeting times as every Tuesday from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Furthermore, Senate’s Election Code and its Election Information page list eligibility requirements for all senators, including the fact that senators “must attend Senate meetings from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays for the entire 2011-2012 academic year.”
The Daily Campus sent an email to all of the senators who missed the LGBT vote Tuesday night, asking them why they were not present. Eight senators responded.
Sens. Justin Amos (Meadows), Michael Boulos (Law), Sam Mansfield (Dedman II), Katie O’Neil (Lyle) and Scott Rogers (Law) have not responded to The Daily Campus after nearly a week.
Sen. Alex Ehmke (Dedman II), Student Body Vice President-Elect, told The Daily Campus that he had to leave at 5:15 p.m. because of “family things,” noting that he tried to find out if he could record his vote early, but couldn’t because it is against the rules.
Sen. Rachel Fox (Dedman II), one of the bill’s co-authors, said she was “panicking to get a research paper finished.”
Sen. Hiba Ibad (Dedman I) said she “had a family emergency that came up and had to leave immediately” before the vote, although she was there for the bill’s debate.
Two senators, Sen. Aden Abiye (Dedman I) and Sen. Wes Davidson (Cox) left the meeting early because they had a 6:30 p.m. class.
Sens. Yasmin Aceval (Cox) and Jamison Joiner (Cox) had doctors’ appointments.
Sen. Alejandra Aguirre (Hispanic-American) was too sick to attend the meeting.
To read the complete responses from the eight senators who did respond, visit the Hilltop Politics blog.
