New faces filled the seats of the Associated Students Inc. Senate this summer, which returned today for its first meeting of the fall semester.
ASI Executive Director Richard Haller said that in his 30 years on campus, he couldn’t remember the last time Senate did not have at least one or two returning members.
This year, all 19 senators are new to ASI.
Despite the abundance of new faces, Haller said that this year’s Senate seems excited to learn the ins and outs of ASI.
“I am very impressed with what I’ve seen so far,” Haller said. “The lack of experience hasn’t really been an issue because each senator has demonstrated an eagerness to learn all there is to know about ASI and the University.”
ASI Vice President Jonathon Bolin agreed that although overall inexperience leaves ground to be made up, this year’s Senate is far more active than last year’s.
“By this time, this year, we already have seven resolutions passed, and that’s more than we’ve ever had,” Bolin said.
In addition to passing multiple resolutions over the summer, the Senate also lobbied the 120-member legislature in Sacramento, Calif.
Senator for the College of Engineering Andrew Siwabessy said it has been a positive experience in senate so far.
“The atmosphere is very enthusiastic,” he said. “Everybody has new, novel ideas that are bubbling up. I have a very optimistic outlook on how this year is going to be.”
Siwabessy also said that although the senators are new, there are other people to help them learn the ropes.
“Not everybody [in ASI] is new,” he said. “There are a lot of experienced people who are here to assist us.”
ASI Vice President Jonathon Bolin said he thinks the situation has pro’s and con’s — though he believes the positives outweigh the negatives.
“The pro of that is everybody comes in on the same playing field,” Bolin said.
He said that last year, younger members seemed intimidated by the older ones, and wouldn’t become active until the end of the year, but with no senior members, that intimidation seems to be gone.
“No one can say I’ve been a senator longer than anyone else,” he said.
ASI Chief of Staff Joseph Phillips served as the senator for the College of Liberal Arts last year. He said that during his time in the senate, “cliques” stifled communication among senators, and aspirations for higher office distracted members from focusing on student concerns.
Phillips said that he’s seeing a lot more collaboration in Senate this time around.
“This is, in my mind, a much better senate this year,” Phillips said. “We have a clean slate, people aren’t starting out of the gate with plans to become president or vice president.”
The senate meets every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in the Stuart L. Farber Senate Chambers located in USU room 217.
