The Undergraduate Student Government Senate suspended senate appointment bylaws last night to expedite the appointment process for unrepresented town seats.
The resignations of Mike Quigley, Josh Lannin and Brad Bernstein last night left six of the ten town senator seats open.
“This is a unique occasion,” said Senate President Mike Gillespie. “I’ve never seen problems like this in my two years in the senate.”
The Senate Appointment Review Board interviewed and ranked eight prospective senators for two previous town openings. As a part of suspending the senate appointment bylaws, the names and rankings of the remaining six candidates will be sent to the Organization for Town Independent Students for faster appointments. All applications received by tomorrow will also be forwarded to OTIS for review.
SARB chair Lisa Fields said she believes this plan will show OTIS the need for immediate action.
“The problem is, if it would have to go back through SARB, it would take one to two extra weeks.” Fields said. “This way we can give the applications straight to OTIS rather than re-interview some of them second and third times.”
Mike King, fraternity senator, questioned whether it was fair that the new applicants would not have to be scrutinized by SARB.
East Halls Senator Wendy Hurst feared the suspension would set a precedent for future bylaw suspensions.
Fields said that was not the intention of the suspension and that she plans to introduce new legislation in the coming weeks to make the process more efficient.
In other action, the senate passed the USG/Association of Residence Hall Students Elections Bill of 1993. The budget, submitted by Head Elections Commissioner Gregory Hamluk, requested that $3,428.55 be acquired from the special elections and general accounts. The special elections account would contribute approximately $1942, and the general election account would give $1485.
The account will cover three election debates and various campaign expenditures.