Efforts made to improve quality of senate meetings

Working for Utah State University students is an opportunity most don’t have the chance to take, but Academic Senate is a body that has the ability to improve student life, said Michelle Richards, Academic Senate administrative assistant, during Monday night’s Academic Senate meeting.

After last week’s Stater’s Council, Richards said college senators have the chance to engage in discussion with university leaders to make beneficial changes for students.

“It kind of got me thinking about what we could do as a senate,” she said.

With Academic Senate as a new body, senators need to make changes to make meetings more effective, Tiffany Evans, ASUSU adviser, said.

“You’re building the foundation for a new organization,” Evans said. “You’ll have to make a lot of changes.”

A few of those changes should incorporate a more structured senate agenda, well researched proposals and senators attending meetings with more ideas, Richards said.

“I think we should be constantly striving to better our colleges and the university,” Tim Peterson, Science senator, said, adding the senate shouldn’t pass legislation solely because it has the power to do so.

If proposals are not well researched, then they shouldn’t pass, Richards said.

“I love senate. I love the power – it’s incredible the things we can do,” she said, adding the senate isn’t here to benefit themselves, rather the student body as a whole.

Andrew Shaw, Natural Resources senator, agreed with Richards’ encouragement to improve research on issues senators present to the board.

“It’s worth the time to bang out the details,” he said. “It’s definitely going to affect the student body as a whole.”

After Richards’ presentation, Cody Bingham, Agriculture senator, reviewed his discussion with Executive Council last week and informed the senate that Kiersten Hewitt, ASUSU Extension appointed chair, has concerns on not being a voting member of Executive Council.

Currently, Extension students are represented by the student advocate, which is a voting member of Executive Council, Bingham said. However, Hewitt’s concern is that there isn’t enough representation from the student advocate to cover the large numbers of Extension students.

-kcashton@cc.usu.edu