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The General Student Senate’s main priority is to represent the undergraduate student body at the University of Maine. To do this, the senate asks potential senators to collect 25 signatures and to attain the vice president of Student Government’s (SG) approval. The person is then sworn into his or her seat, as long as the person has the senate’s approval. Pretty basic.
Former SG President Steven Moran – with then Vice President James Lyons – worked diligently to fill all the senate’s seats. Until the end of last year, the senate didn’t have any concerns about being too full – just the opposite. Filling 35 seats was a big job the two eventually succeeded in.
I say good for them. It took a lot of work to get 35 students to dedicate the time and effort into representing 10,000 or so UMaine undergrads.
Now it has come to the point James Lyons, the new president of SG’s inbox is filling with inquiries from prospective senators asking what they need to do to gain a seat. Problem? The senate reached capacity.
The GSS’ constitution allows for anywhere from 35 to 55 senators. Currently, SG standing rules are set at 35. Now the seats are full and more people want in, SG will have to host senate elections. This means students would get a ballot with the names of the campaigning senators. The ballots have traditionally been divided by college. For instance, an English student would vote for the senators running for the position under the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The other option is this: A senator could bring forward a resolution to punch up the number of available seats from 35 to 55. If the senate passed this by a two-thirds vote, this would mean everyone who currently has a seat and the few extra people who would like to become senators all have the chance, with no student vote.
What the decision should come down to is which solution better represents the students. It is an issue of quality versus quantity. Do we want more senators to represent us, or do we want senators to compete for spots and thereby, hypothetically, have the best representatives?
I offer another solution. Let’s bump up the seat number to the maximum, 55, and require more of our senators. Let’s make them collect 100 signatures and approval of the dean of the college they wish to represent before they may be sworn into office. How about making them submit essays to the executive board of SG that may then accept or reject the application?
I think there are more creative ways to deal with this situation that are not being explored. The blessing of student-run government is that it can change. It can be experimental to see what works. This isn’t Washington D.C., so why not find solutions that work to fit us, the UMaine student body?
Heather Steeves is a senior Journalism major and is the bane of the General Student Senate.
