Amendment could ground SUB reps, senators
By Laura Rompf
Assistant News Editor
Although Stanford Hall resident Curt Roberts will go to Australia in approximately two months, he has spent this semester as an active member of the student senate. An amendment brought to the floor in Wednesday night's senate meeting could prevent future senators and other members of the student union from following in Roberts' footsteps.
The amendment would attempt to keep students who study abroad for a semester from serving in student government during the year they are scheduled to travel.
"I am not arguing against this amendment for personal reasons because it won't affect my term," Roberts said. "However, I feel excluding people who are going to study abroad from serving on the senate will hurt the body as a whole."
Roberts said passing the amendment could result in a heavy amount of underclassmen on the senate because typically juniors go abroad and seniors move off campus. This would cause representation in the senate to be unbalanced.
"I don't think there will be enough benefits to outweigh the costs of passing this amendment," Roberts said.
Pasquerilla West senator Audra Higgins is chair of the oversight committee which proposed the amendment. Higgins said people who commit to a student union office should hold the job as a priority and going abroad prohibits them from performing to the best of their ability.
"You say you want to do a job and by virtue of the office you are representing the student body," Higgins said. "Why would you say you are up to doing a job when you wouldn't be here for all of the term?"
Higgins said when new senators return in January to fill in for members who go abroad, the disruption is nearly impossible to work around. Roberts, however, disagreed.
"People that go to Notre Dame are very bright. People can pick up very quickly what we do in here, it is not brain surgery," he said.
Roberts also noted Notre Dame sends more students abroad then any other university and programs like Washington D.C. are especially attractive to government students who also have an interest in serving the student union.
"If someone is serious about running for office and is honest in telling students they are going abroad, then I feel they are effectively representing the people," Roberts said.
Liz Efta, director of programming for the Student Union Board (SUB), explained to the senate that SUB consists of five executive board members and around 30 other people. The five executive officers are appointed to serve from April 1 of one year to March 31 of the next and usually one of those members are abroad when they are appointed.
"I don't know how senate works, but I know how the Student Union Board works and it is not a big deal if someone is abroad when they are appointed to an executive office," Efta said.
Efta said SUB members would be excluded from service in both their junior and senior years if the amendment was passed. "You will be excluding people from service to the Student Union Board for an entire four semesters," she said.
Badin Hall senator Shannon Bennett will also be leaving in Jaunuary to study abroad.
"When I ran in Badin with Susie [Schaab], we ran as a team. Susie has been going to committee meetings and has attended senate a couple times. I don't think she will have any trouble representing the students when the time comes," Bennett said.
Towards the end of the meeting, student body president Brian O'Donoghue informed Higgins that the student union constitution already states that anyone serving in an office must hold the position for the entire year. Higgins said more emphasis needs to be put on this clause of the constitution.
However St. Edward's senator Seth Whetzel said the senate should not determine what activities a student can participate in.
"College is a fleeting time, and many students want to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible," Whetzel said. "I think too much emphasis is being put upon the words of the constitution, rather than the spirit."
Some senators suggested offices such as student body president and vice president should be specified in the amendment, so that students could not run for these offices if they would not be present for the entire term. After a lengthy debate, the senate sent the amendment back to committee for further review.
In other senate news:
u Katie Bufalino, a member of the committee on academic affairs, said a resolution will be on the floor next week proposing a new study days schedule for 2001. Currently the Academic Council has arranged for two study days followed by two days of finals, then one study day and three days of finals. The senate's new schedule will be the normal four study days followed by five exam days.
"If you emphasize that past practice is needed for consistency and relate consistency and past practice to productivity, I think the faculty will vote favorably [for the new schedule]" said faculty senate liason Stuart Greene.
u Lewis Hall senator Luciana Reali presented the senate with a proposal to the student wellness advisory board regarding a healthy living guide for incoming first year students. Reali proposed a packet be sent to all incoming freshmen to help them deal with balancing academic responsibilites along with social and extracurricular activities.
Reali also informed the senate that focus groups are being formed to investigate first year orientation. Freshman class council officers will meet with representatives from their dorm to discuss this year's freshman orientation and possible changes for the future.
All News Stories for Thursday, November 9, 2000
