Junior Kelvin Beachum’s proposal to add a student athlete special interest seat to Student Senate bought lots of questions from the chamber at the beginning of Tuesday’s Senate meeting.
But this was Beachum’s goal: to get Senate to look into the idea and “get back to us with ideas.”
“There are roughly 450 student-athletes at SMU, a large portion of the undergraduate population,” Beachum wrote in an email after the meeting. “This large number in itself should express the need for specific representation in Senate. There are schools like Lyle and Meadows that have less than 500 students and yet still have two or more senators.”
The big questions from Senate were whether student athletes had special concerns and whether a seat could address them. Beachum told Senate that there was a disconnect between Senate and student athletes, noting that athletes don’t always know what’s going on in Senate.
Beachum said that having a special chair or seat in the chamber could help facilitate the spread of information, especially since many athletes are inundated with emails.
“We want to keep the lines of communication wide open between the Senate and the student-athletes,” Beachum wrote. “There are events, workshops and other programs that both groups miss out on because of the disconnect between groups. By working together and having a student athlete in the Senate meetings, we can ensure the messages will be heard loud and clear on both ends.”
Senators questioned Beachum on the number of student athletes who are interested in a special seat. He said he couldn’t provide an exact number, but personally knew at least seven students. Sen. Soniyyah Blue (Perkins) asked Beachum to talk to more student athletes to see how they felt.
Beachum said he would.
Several senators wanted to know what student athletes had done to express their concerns.
Beachum noted that some athletes had run in elections, but he said no one had talked to the Student Concerns Committee.
Student Body Secretary Katie Perkins asked whether just having a regular meeting with someone from Senate, such as the Student Body President, would work. Beachum said it would, especially since they have a monthly meeting.
“As student-athletes, we have different concerns and issues while at school and there hasn’t previously been a way for us to have our voice consistently heard,” Beachum wrote.
After the meeting, senators had mixed reactions to Beachum’s proposal.
Sen. Jonathan Ishmael (Dedman I) does not think a special seat is needed.
“I believe that if they would like more representation than they currently have, then they should actively pursue the open Senate seats that are available for them to pursue,” Ishmael said. “I definitely think that student athletes do have special concerns, but I think some of the answers can be from within their own organizations.”
Student Concerns Chair Martha Pool says this concern should definitely be addressed. When she last ran for Cox Senator, her platform included looking into the issue of student athletes being too busy too get involved.
“I don’t know if this position is warranted; I’ll need to do some research,” she said. “But for sure we need to do something about that.”
Student Body President Jake Torres has no problem with giving student athletes a special interest seat. Torres said if student athletes feel underrepresented, then Senate should address it.
“It’s something that we should talk about,” he said, later adding, “There’s nothing wrong with looking at restructuring Senate.”
Speaker Joe Gaasbeck is also in favor of the seat.
“I think it’s something that we can potentially put a little amount of effort in to change how the structure works and get a great result for getting students more connected with Senate,” he said.
Parliamentarian Joseph Esau said he’d be willing to work with student athletes on this issue.
“Students can definitely make a better push on accommodating student athletes and getting them more involved in student government here at SMU,” he said. “So definitely, that’s something I would like to work with them on.”
