The Editorial Board doesn’t grasp the logic of the timeline for electing senators and student body officers. Because it is conducted at the end of the year, one fourth of the constituency of the student body officers is unaccounted for because freshmen and transfer students do not get to vote for them.
While freshmen elect first year senators, and thus get somewhat of a voice in Senate, transfer students are left out of the process entirely. Transfer students continue to be represented by senators and student body officers that they did not vote for.
Further, we also find it odd that seniors are allowed to vote in the elections. Unless you count the two weeks when the new senate takes over, seniors are not affected at all by the change in leadership. So why should they have a say?
Last year, senate attempted to answer the concerns of transfer students who felt unrepresented through legislation that provided an extra seat for transfer students. But because the legislation was never actually presented due to its lack of timeliness (it came at the very end of the year) and because it caused a riot of controversy within senate, nothing was done.
The Editorial Board proposes what we feel is a more logical and fair solution. Senate elections should be postponed until the first two weeks of the school year. This gives freshmen and transfer students the ability to vote for their senators and student body officers, and avoids seniors getting pulled into campaign chaos when they don’t need to be.
We realize this is a controversial solution. Obviously the need for “summer senate” comes into play. However, it is just as reasonable to expect the old senate to stick around for a summer as to expect the new senate to come a summer early. The time spent in senate is the same; the obligation is simply moved to the end of a senator’s term instead of the beginning.
Arguably, this plan also puts freshmen and transfer students at a slight disadvantage because they will have less time to get to know the candidates than the rest of the student body who has seen their work for years. But the same could be said of the elections for freshmen senators who are elected in the fall.
Additionally, while the beginning of the year may seem like an inconvenient time to hold elections, we feel that it is the best, as by the end of the year, the majority of the student body is hardly mobilized with school spirit. It is tired and ready for summer. At the beginning of the year, however, students are more excited to be back on campus and more eager to get involved. We feel that this new time for an election season may actually increase the number of students who turn out to vote.
We also feel that this time is generally better for the running candidates. School has not picked up to its full speed yet, and thus, they have more time to focus on campaigning without sacrificing their schoolwork. Additionally, training for student senators doesn’t happen until the fall anyway. This is illogical given that the majority of Senate has already turned up for a summer senate session. This means two things: first, when they show up for summer senate they are unprepared, and second, when they finally get trained they no longer need it as much as they did originally. This hardly serves the time or interest of those elected to represent us.
Thus, the Editorial Board recommends this change to Student Senate. While we understand that this is a change that will require incredible organization and work, we also understand that currently, the student body officers who will be elected next week will realistically only have been voted on by three fourths of next year’s student body. That is hardly fair.
