The Associated Student Body Senate voted in approval of a bill on Tuesday which reduces the amount of seats in the legislative body and re-distributes the seats using a new system.
With the removal of 34 seats, the Senate will now have 48 seats; 20 of which will be appropriated to academic schools based on their size. The Associated Student Body will divide the remaining 28 seats among 14 categories of student organizations defined by the Office of the Dean of Students and adopted by the Senate.
The categories include academic/professional, cultural/multicultural, honorary/honors societies, political, religious/spiritual, special interest, sponsored, sport clubs, student governance, wellness and health, Panhellenic, the Interfraternity Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
“The purpose behind these changes is to create a more well-represented campus,” Associated Student Body Vice President, John Brahan says.
As the senate stands, 96 percent of its members are white and 74 percent are Greek, Brahan said. According to the UM Institutional Research and Admissions statistics from the 2014-2015 academic year, the campus is 71 percent white and 41 percent Greek.
“Through this new method, Senate will hopefully have a more accurate representation of the demographics on campus and will create diversity of opinion.”
Junior business marketing and art major Bella Gonzalez said this change could increase the long-term impact Senate has on campus.
“We will have voices on Senate we’ve never heard from. This could be the mark when we look back on Ole Miss history and say, ‘We did that.’”
With the removal of seats apportioned to residential halls it will be more difficult for freshmen to run. Amelia Rhodes a freshman elementary education major said, “I like the changes that Senate is making because it will diversify Senate, however, as a freshmen, it really changes things for those of us trying to run this year.”
In order to compensate for the loss of seats, the Senate has created seven new positions specifically for freshmen called Legislative Aids. They will serve as secretaries to a committee and will work closely with a committee chair while still being able to author bills. However, they are not voting members. The hope for these seven freshmen is better preparation through the position to serve as productive senators in later years.
Along with these changes, Senate has introduced a new policy for its funding of student organizations. In the past, organizations had to apply for a lump sum of funding at the beginning of the year and submit similar subsequent applications for each individual purchase they made. In an effort to make the process more efficient for student organizations, it is now rolling and distributed on first-come, first-served basis. Organizations will now only apply per purchase. Funding requests will be due every Thursday at 11:59 p.m. and organizations will be notified by the following Friday as to the status of the request.
Associated Student Body Treasurer Kate Aspinwall said ASB recognized and wanted to address the changes in needs among student organizations throughout the year.
Along with the changes of procedures there will now be a detailed Student Organization Expenditure Policy available at all times to students in an attempt to make the funding process more transparent.
Petitions for Associated Student Body Senate hopefuls are due Tuesday before 4:00 p.m to the ASB office in the Student Union.
