Senate Bill #2769, which was passed in January, changed the previous Senate model to an at-large model. Senators will no longer run as representatives of a particular school or college, but instead will be voted in by popular vote and represent the student body as a whole.
In addition to the change in representation, the number of senators elected has been reduced from 32 positions, to 21.
Senators will be elected, annually, by the student body during the ASUW Elections. This year, voting for ASUW candidates begins on April 12 at 8 a.m. and ends on April 15 at noon.
Some students shared their thoughts on the restructuring of the ASUW Senate.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be as successful. I think it’s going to be very one-sided towards the bigger colleges, such as Arts and Sciences,” Junior Sarah Pachl said. “Comparing my major, Psychology, to my minor, Political Science, the school sizes are completely different.”
“I don’t feel like voices would necessarily be heard if we’re just focusing on the bigger schools. I can’t imagine how it would be for somebody that was in the smaller colleges. Their voices are not going to be heard at all. I don’t agree with that.”
Pachl also expressed concerns about potential problems for representing colleges without expertise.
“For example, I’m majoring in Psychology, and I am minoring in American Politics and let’s say I was a senator. I would not know how to represent an Engineering major, or an Agricultural major,” Pachl said. “I don’t know what kind of funding they need.”
“That’s just, not necessarily scary, but it is shocking to hear that it’s passed.”
Sophomore Virginia Herboldsheimer shared similar concerns.
“Change isn’t always a good thing. From the changes described, it seems as though certain populations of students will be vastly overcrowding others,” Herboldsheimer said.
“It seems like before, the system was geared toward representation for everyone and allowing everyone to have a voice and ensure that every college gets funding of some sort, even if they do only have one representative. It worries me that that wouldn’t be guaranteed now.”
Herboldsheimer also shared concerns about certain organizations being represented.
“I would say that this structuring just makes me a little worried for those student organizations and colleges that don’t have that many people because they can’t change that. There’s not much that they can do,” Herboldsheimer said.
“A lot of the people who are geared toward running for ASUW would probably be of the same major. That’s probably partly why there’s so many from the College of Arts and Sciences, if they have those interests, those are their majors. It’s not really fair to expect somebody that doesn’t have those interests to do that.”
