| Show J T 0 A h A On OK eo f. f h r 1 K Out Senate P i by Susan Zimmerman Managing Editor A couple of weeks ago some of the senators in the student senate were complaining complaining complaining com com- to me about the way things were run at the meet meet- ings So 0 Linda Cossins w who o ois is is' Vice President nt of Student Activities on on the Executive Council and I decided to sit in on the January meeting meeting meeting meet meet- ing of the senate Once I had gone to the meeting I decided to write an editorial on it I Iam Iam Iam am not pi picking king on anyone or anything like that I just wanted to give my opinion hat I think about the sen sen- ate This is my first editorial so please bear with me At the meeting I went to no noone noone noone one was absent except Norm Jacobs But three people came in 20 minutes late and andone andone andone one person came in half an hour late The girl who takes a the minutes was not there she arranged for her alternate alternate alternate alter alter- nate to be there but I guess didn't give her the minutes so sono no minutes were read There was no old business f so we got on to new business which was changing the wording in inthe inthe inthe the student constitution Only one copy of each amendment was made so we had to pass and read each one This made it hard to study them Everyone discussed the amendments amendments amendments am am- and they were all voted on There is no Parliamentary Parliamentary Parliamentary Par Par- Procedure used in the student senate so discussion discussion discussion dis dis- was sort of confusing with everyone talking with each other a lot of the time When the meeting adjourned adjourn adjourn- ed a few people were arguing with each other which made it kind of hard for Tom TaD Mayhew Mayhew Mayhew May- May hew the president of the ther r u senate to be heard Now I am no expert on how howa a student senate should berun be berun berun run in fact this is the first one I have ever been to But it seemed rather confusing with no organized discussion or or voting g. g It see seems like a senate is is' supposed to use Parliamentary Procedure which our senate does not Parliamentary Proc Procedure ure organizes organizes organizes or or- all talking and voting voting voting vot vot- ing from what I understand One senator made copies of Parliamentary Procedure Made E Easy sy and hand handed them out to all the senators Iguess Iguess I Iguess guess the senators thought it was too much trouble to use these rules because they dont don't really use them Some rules are used but not the ones that govern talking I really got the impression that there was too much arguing 1 between senators when they should have been listening or voting I talked to Tom Mayhew about this and he told me that there is no need to follow any rules of order for discussions discussions discussions discus discus- and so on He said that since there are not that that many many people in the senate it does not hurt to have open discussion discussion discussion discus discus- sion and it is a good system Tom goes to Senate every week and I only went once so maybe he knows better than I but some of the other senators senators senators sen sen- that I have talked to do donot donot donot not agree with Tom and I must admit it seemed they could use some some order t to me I think that hat we have a pretty good student senate and it could be a great o one e esome if some things were changed like starting to use parliamentary parliamentary parliamentary procedure and so I on While there was not much arguing going on while I was there two senators told me it was because I was ther and they wanted to make a good impression I 1 have heard other things about the senate that need to be asked about ab ut but I am saving them for other editorials The main thing that I want to put across across across ac ac- ross to everyone who is reading reading reading read read- ing this is is' that you do have a student senate that needs tobe tobe to tobe be improved I think that the best way to improve it is to tomake tomake tomake make sure that the parliamentary parliamentary parliamentary procedure is used As I said before this editorial is my opinion and I am not out oot to get anyone just bring some things to the stu student ent body's attention These are just my thoughts and ideas concerning the student sen sen- ate 1 |
