The general elections for new student senators at Bradley took place Sept. 5 and 6, but there are still more seats to fill.
Currently, there are nine empty seats in Student Senate. Vacant seats include two from Wycoff, one from Heitz, one from St. James, one from Main Street Commons, and four from singles.
Student Senate deals with a wide variety of issues that affect the student body and “serves as a medium of communication between the university administration and the student body,” according to its constitution.
“We bring up [with the group’s university administration] generally problems that students have, whether it’s very minor or something that really needs to change,” Student Body President Jenna Dellaria said.
For example, Student Senate has installed water bottle filling stations throughout campus. But according to Dellaria, they are also focusing on other issues, such as promoting sexual assault awareness for the entire year.
Student Senate is also planning on installing an iPad in the Michel Student Center to give students a chance to have a voice on campus and to bring any concerns they have with Bradley to their attention.
“We really want senators in Senate to just be very passionate about the organization not just sit there during the meetings, and not necessarily care or just kind of have something on their resume,” Dellaria said. “We want students who are truly passionate and truly care about this University, so that way we can honestly make a difference on campus.”
But there are some qualifications that a student must have in order to be a senator. According to the fall 2014 petition to become a student senator, the student must have a cumulative GPA over 2.0,” and this applies to sophomores, juniors and seniors.
Responsible for filling the empty Senate seats is the Speaker of the Assembly, junior Dave Jensen.
“Filling empty seats on Senate is ultimately the Speaker’s job. I have already been in contact with numerous people regarding the open seats,” Jensen said. “Student body-wide elections were already held, so the process for the them is a little different. They will still complete a petition [with 40 signatures]. Then at General Assembly, the candidates give a small speech and the current senators then vote.”
Dellaria admits that “[Student] Senate can be kind of a big commitment or a little bit intimidating” to incoming freshmen, but the group wants to make them feel comfortable by sharing their excitement and willingness to work with students.
To students who are thinking about joining Student Senate, Dellaria said, “There’s no harm in trying.” She said she encourages students to not hold back and focus on what they want to do so they can make a difference on campus.
