Alexandria Seltenrich waited to hear Student Government Association’s verdict to approve or deny funding of her research trip. When it came time for the vote, several senator chairs were empty and no vote was cast.
After this incident and senators’ low attendance at weekly meetings hindered Student Government Association’s ability to run efficiently, the organization made an effort to correct the issue internally.
In the senator contract, the attendance policy states that senators must attend “at least 85 percent of weekly senate meetings,” allowing for only four absences.
“I feel that attendance of SGA has improved greatly since the start of the semester,” said Haley Humiston, mass communication junior and SGA vice president.
According to Humiston, SGA usually hosts a retreat at the beginning of the semester that promotes team building skills and where SGA members sign their senator contracts. This year, the retreat was postponed because of the hectic university calendar.
As a result, SGA had no solid attendance policy for the first few weeks of the semester, Humiston said.
During the first few weeks, according to the senate minutes, meetings were averaging three to four absences. Another trend in the minutes was that many senators would leave before the meeting ended if it lasted more than an hour, though they are required to stay the entire time.
Humiston said that she talked to the senators who came close to violating their contracts because of attendance.
“The senators who may have had a rough patch in attendance have made up for this in other areas of SGA,” Humiston said.
At the Oct. 5 senate meeting, a situation arose in which a history junior, Seltenrich, came to the senate asking SGA to help fund a research trip for her thesis project. The issue of funding her trip was cause for a “healthy debate” because it would traditionally fall under the Richard Frank Grant, said Max Bonanno, political science junior and senator at large.
As a result of an hour and a half of debate, many senators had to get up and leave before a vote was taken on whether to fund Seltenrich’s trip. When it came time to vote, senate was not at quorum, two thirds of the senate present, and no conclusion was made, Bonnano said.
“I was quite happy to see that almost everyone in the room wanted to support me,” Selentrich said. “When they all of a sudden didn’t take a vote at the appropriate time, I was disappointed and shocked.”
After the meeting, some senators apologized to Seltenrich, but she said she expected more from SGA.
In the minutes from the Oct. 5 meeting, Bonnano suggested that the senate should address the issue of SGA members leaving early at the next meeting and remind senators they are required to commit 5 p.m-7 p.m. on Wednesdays for SGA meetings.
Senators are also students and SGA officials understand that, Humiston said.
“I understand that our senators are students first and leaders on campus. If a senator has communicated with me and is late or leaving early for an academic or personal reason, it is likely to be excused,” Humiston said.
The senate followed up with the senators who left early, and they had legitimate excuses, Bonanno said.
Edward Schneider, mass communication sophomore, was present at the Oct. 5 senate meeting.
Schneider said a student was desperate for money to finish a unique capstone research project and was unable to receive the money because SGA was not at quorum and that was appalling.
“I understand that these representatives have class, but they are aware of the requirements of SGA before they enter their term,” Schneider said.
Since this incident, SGA has worked out these attendance problems, Humiston said.
“In any situation where someone is acting poorly, it reflects poorly on all of us, so we try to do a good job of making sure things are well attended,” Bonanno said.
“As a senate we have discussed how important it is to hold each other accountable and how each individual’s responsibilities affect us all,” Humiston said.
Overall, SGA has turned its attendance around, and it is clear that there is good internal communication and teamwork, Humiston said.
Kristen Himmelberg can be reached at [email protected]
