Senate drops new elections

Even on a local scale, governments have issues.

Student Senate elections were canceled Sept. 5. The elections were cancelled because not every position could be filled, said Doug Carnahan, dean of students and adviser to Senate. The freshman class had two vacancies, the sophomore class had six vacancies, the junior class had four vacancies, and the seniors had four vacancies.

"We've never had this many vacancies," Carnahan said. "We've never had a lot of students fill out petitions, but we've never had a time where we didn't fill all classes."

Because each class did not have enough candidates to fill the positions, the candidates that were on the ballot were automatically elected without a vote from the students.

"I'd like to see some competition in the Senate elections," said Adam Griffin, co-adviser to Senate.

The Senate will fill the vacancies by petition at the Oct. 1 meeting.

"This group of officers, I'm really confident in," Griffin said. "The Senate will be strong."

He said the Senate members and the officers will bring many ideas to the Senate floor this year. Carnahan said he believes the vacancies are caused by lesser interest in Senate than other years.

However, both Carnahan and Griffin said they were sure the vacancies will be filled on Oct. 1. Griffin said several people have come to Student Services showing interest in filling the vacancies in Senate.

The first business meeting will not change because of the lack of senators.

The first meeting is Wednesday Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m. in Billingsly, Room 310.

Any full-time students wishing to join Senate should go to the Senate meeting at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 1.

The Senate will decide at that meeting who will be appointed to the vacancies.