The Whitworthian

Issue date: 2/20/07 Last Updated: 8/9/07

Jessica Carrier/Whitworthian Special events coordinator Amy Newton reads from her report during last week's ASWC meeting.

All dorm representatives will be elected in the fall except for Schumacher Hall and off-campus reps after a vote of 13-4-1 by ASWC members two weeks ago. The Assembly also voted to change student representation for the 2007-08 school year.

There will now be one senator and one representative for Stewart/Shalom/Keola and one senator and representative for Baldwin-Jenkins/Akili/Tiki. Boppell will be represented by a single senator.

Representatives will now be elected in the fall because last year the Arend Hall representative was elected in the Spring.

"It was inconsistent to have one rep elected in the spring and the rest in the fall," Executive Vice President Andrea Naccarato said.

According to the ASWC Constitution, "the election of executive officers, senators (with the exception of freshmen residencehalls), and off-campus representatives, shall occur each spring semester. The elections of senators in freshmen residence halls and all other representatives shall occur within thirty days of the commencement of fall semester."

Last year, ASWC President Jeff Hunter proposed a new election timeline where all senators and representatives would have been elected in the Spring. Students failed the proposal in a campus-wide vote. However, Hunter decided to try to assemble as much of the leadership team as possible before the fall.

The leadership retreat is held in the spring, which Naccarato said leaves a disconnect between those elected in the spring and the fall.

During the discussion during the ASWC meeting two weeks ago, off-campus senator Adam Jones said he thinks it is important to elect as many students as possible in the spring.

"I think by voting in the spring it makes things run more smoothly," Jones said. "I think to have that be a consistent thing is better than to try and bring a bunch of new people on board after it's all been started."

Others argued that elections in the spring reduce the number of students who get to elect their own leaders.

Arend resident and freshman Tyler Hamilton wanted to run for Arend representative this year, but did not have the opportunity because of the change made last year.

"I saw that other freshmen had the opportunity to run and I didn't," Hamilton said. "I would have run if I had the opportunity to."

Instead, Hamilton has attended every ASWC meeting this past year. He says this is because he enjoys being informed about student policy.

Holding elections in the fall gives freshman more opportunity to run, Naccarato said.

"It's not fair to exclude that group of freshman from being able to be involved," Naccarato said.

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