Student Government defends appointment of senators

TAMIU’s Student Body Senators function as legislators and hold the voting power over a number of issues pertinent to the university community. While senators usually enter Student Government via a general election held every spring semester, this fall SG filled some of those senate seats by way of appointment, a move defended by Student Body President James Cortez. “I spoke with our former advisor Dennis Koch before he left [the university], and he did advise the appointment proceedings to keep everything running smoothly,” said Cortez.Student Government apportions Senate seats based on the population of an academic college. The College of Arts and Sciences, for example, is the most populous college and therefore is represented by five SG Senate seats. All five seats are currently filled.The actual make up of the rest of the Senate adds up as follows: College of Business Administration (2), College of Education (1), and the Canseco School of Nursing (1). Three at-large Senate seats represent the student body in general, and there are two graduate Senate seats. In the legislative branch, four of the fourteen current senators (2 from COAS, 1 Nursing, and 1 Graduate) have been appointed rather than elected as well as two executives (Secretary, Sergeant at Arms). President Cortez emphasized that the recent appointments led to a Student Government running at near full capacity. “This is the first time we’ve had so many of the constitutionally-mandated slots filled,” said Cortez. “We’ve never even come close to that.”When asked about the lack of general student input in the appointment process, Cortez answered, “It’s better to have elections. It’s always better to have an election. We needed people to get our initiatives out of the planning stages.”These initiatives include the Dusty Corps student service program, negotiations regarding textbook prices, and Rock the Vote, which draws students’ attention to the democratic process. As an extension of this year’s Rock the Vote initiative, the Student Government has been helping register students to vote. “We started planning these things in the summer,” said Cortez. “We’ve really tried to be organized and efficient, and that requires people.”Also citing efficiency as a motivator behind the appointments, College of Arts and Sciences Senator Juan Mendive (see interview this issue) pointed out the cumbersome facets of the electoral process. “You know, the election process is a little bit more complicated because you have to work with the One Card system. Setting up the ballot and then waiting for the elections and a week of campaigning takes time away from having a complete SG during the year, so it is more convenient to appoint students.”For his part, Albert Chavez Jr., Director of Campus Card Services, emphasized the speed of online student voting using the One Card services. “It doesn’t take much at all,” said Chavez, whose office has facilitated online student voting since 2005. “All we need is the ballot. From there we can have it running in an afternoon.”Himself an appointed senator, Mendive later clarified that the Student Government constitution and bylaws mandate a time-consuming election process. It is those delays, not the One Card System, he said, that can slow down the process of governing.”If we had to have a special election, it would require finding at least two people vying for the position, creating the ballot, and turning it in to the One Card system. Then, we will have to allow the candidates one week to campaign,” said Mendive.Additionally, he believes the formalities of the process don’t always mesh with the realities of student elections. “Many times only one person is vying for a certain position, so it would be useless to have a special election with only one person on the ballot. This is just my opinion.”Mendive explained that when a vacancy occurs in the SG Senate, the position is announced to the entire student body via an e-mail sent to all students. Any interested candidates may come before the Senate, and the Senate nominates and appoints a person for the vacant position. Executive-branch vacancies may be filled by appointment of the SG President pending Senate approval.