COLUMN: Academic Senators Provide Needed Representation
Most students forget they have student government representation within their own college. At USU, our student government is set up in a way that facilitates needed representation for students who belong to each of our academic colleges through an elected college senator.
The senators from each college, including the School of Graduate Studies, are members of the USU/SA Academic Senate within the student association. The purpose of the academic senate is to act as the student’s voice concerning all academic-related student issues.
Senators have a very unique role; they have a strong voice within the student government and they also have the ear of the administration within each college. Senators serve as the advocate for students in their colleges to their college administration. This type of representation is invaluable.
As a student government, we encourage students to take advantage of the representation they have within their colleges. Senators are uniquely positioned to take student concerns straight to the top and work to resolve student concerns and make improvements within their colleges.
Some students wonder why the academic senate doesn’t pass legislation very often. The reason being is that most academic issues can be addressed on a college-by-college basis, rather than university-wide. The majority of a senator’s work falls outside of the weekly academic senate meetings.
Each senator has a college council to assist in representation. Often, college councils provide representation for clubs and organizations within their college as well as for the college’s different departments. It is the college councils who plan and carry out the college weeks on campus, which provide programming events for students and highlight the different aspects of each college.
To ensure proper focus is given to academic issues, the academic senate is represented by the senate pro tempore on the USU/SA Executive Council. The senate pro tempore is a senator who is elected by the other senators for the purpose of representing them on the executive council.
The system we have at USU is unique and places academic issues in the forefront of focus for half of our student government. Many other universities don’t have that type of academic representation.
Election of senators happens in addition to the other USU/SA elections, which will be held the last week of February. Only students who are declared majors within a certain college can vote for candidates running to represent that college.
If you, or someone you know, are interested in running for office to become your college’s next senator, please have a read through the candidate requirements in the elections packet found on the website listed above. Hard copies of the packet can also be picked up in TSC 326. The filing deadline for candidates is Monday, Jan. 27.
Please direct all questions about specific senator positions and responsibilities to the current senator holding office.
If you would like to contact your college senator, you can find contact information on the USU/SA website at www.usu.edu/ususa.
– Casey Saxton is a junior majoring in business administration who serves as the public relations director for USU/SA. He can be reached at asusu.pr@usu.edu or in TSC 332A. Follow Casey on Twitter @caseysaxton.