After last night’s meeting, it is obvious that theUndergraduate Student Government Senate has many problems andissues that need to be resolved. These problems include constantbickering between certain senate members, absences, and a lack offull observance of the USG constitution and Senate bylaws.
The ongoing troubles of the Senate were noticeable from thestart of the meeting, as a dispute broke out over which agendashould be used. The agenda, which according to some senators wassupposed to be sent by the chair of the senate, Sergio de Freitas,and received by senators 24 hours prior to the meeting, was notdelivered to any of their mailboxes until two hours before themeeting. This was not until after Senator Bravmann had sent out hisown agenda for the night. According to the senate bylaws, it is thejob of the chair and president pro Tempore to set the agenda forthe meetings, as stated in article II section 3h of the bylaws.Also the recording secretary is to receive a copy of the agendafrom the chair and give them to the senators 24 hours prior to ameeting as stated in article VI section C.
The tension dwelling within the Senate at this time would becomeobvious during a speech made by the Administrative Director LouisMedina. Medina was granted 58 minutes of the meeting time to reviewthe USG constitution, which he felt was necessary since in priormeetings there seemed to have been some misunderstandings aboutwhat it actually contained. Before reading the constitution, whichhe did page by page verbatim, two senators left the meeting and didnot return until after Medina was finished. The remaining senatorsseemed disinterested, most of them struggling to keep their eyesopen during the reading.
When the two senators who had left returned, they wereconfronted by de Freitas, who dismissed them from the currentmeeting and any further meetings until such time as the AD decidedthat they understood the constitution. This caused uproar amongstthe other senators, who speaking off the record felt that the chairwas correct in seeking disciplinary action, but that the senateshould have been allowed to vote to determine if the two senatorsshould have been dismissed. These senators also felt that deFreitas was exerting too much power in the senate.
The commotion over the exclusion of these two senators led tothe President pro Tempore, Esam Al-Shareffi, calling a five-minuterecess. This recess effectively ended the meeting as decided byboth the chair and Al-Shareffi. ‘We felt it was in interestof the student body because there were many personal issues goingon that wouldn’t be productive to our meeting,’ said deFreitas in response to why they had ended the meeting early.
‘Had we continued the meeting nothing would havehappened,’ Al-Shareffi said. Yet, there were some who weregreatly upset over the abrupt end to the meeting. A few members ofthe gallery were outraged. One member in particular, who had someaffiliation with the Senate, blasted the meeting, saying thatbecause this Senate does not fully follow the constitutioneverything it does is illegal. The members pointed out that,according to the USG constitution and Robert’s Rules of Order- which USG uses for its guidelines – a Parliamentarian should bepresent at every meeting, and until such time as there is, thesenate operates illegally.
The senate and executive council have been looking for aParliamentarian to hire. However, this may cost from $200-$400 anhour.
At this time, the future of the Senate is unclear. It has beenin service since last semester, but has not had a full staff untilthis semester. It will be interesting to see how and if the Senatecan survive and serve the student body with all of the technicaland personal problems that plague it.
