The plans of newly elected ASUA officers to eliminate certain positions within student government were denounced by current ASUA senators Wednesday.
But after holding a special Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate meeting, eight of the 10 current senators approved all of the changes.
Alistair Chapman, president-elect, called for the removal of one of the two academic affairs directors, a change recommended by this year's directors.
Academic affairs directors are responsible for consulting on matters like academic advising, academic grade appeals, registration and the Academic Code of Conduct.
Chapman said after talking to Kim Bui and Cassi Sonn, academic affairs directors, he thought it necessary to remove one of the positions to increase efficiency.
Sen. Jacob Reuben said eliminating one of the positions reflects negatively on the university.
He said academics are why students are here and need to be emphasized.
He also said the removal of the second position would put too much pressure on one person and reduce leadership opportunities.
Chapman said eliminating the position would not reduce involvement because he would encourage all directors to create a task force of volunteers.
"We are not eliminating the potential of the position," Chapman said.
Reuben asked if the elimination was actually necessary, because ASUA has the resources and money to support two academic affairs positions.
Chapman said he understood Reuben's perspective but didn't want to make positions available that might not be filled.
"I want it to be as concrete as possible," he said
Chapman said J.P. Benedict, ASUA president, and Doug Hartz, last year's president, agreed with the changes.
"It's not cutting down on productivity; it's narrowing the focus," Benedict said.
The technology director position was also eliminated while the spirit director was given an assistant.
Jordan Miller, administrative vice president-elect, eliminated the Freshman Class Council assistant director and the administrative chief of staff.
She said her two years of experience on the council have shown her that the assistant director is not necessary. She said volunteer advisers were more beneficial and important.
Reuben said eliminating the council assistant would make ASUA more inclusive.
But Miller said by eliminating the position, she is encouraging more involvement because anyone could become a council adviser.
"It worked well this year," she said.
Sen. Blake Buchanan had different concerns with the elimination of some positions and the addition of others because it would require ASUA to continuously change positions.
He said some people might not work as hard in the positions as people did this year or they might do more with the position next year than what people did this year.
"It's a year-by-year basis," he said.
Three new marketing director positions were also created for the three branches of ASUA.
The directors will be responsible for promoting all ASUA events and projects to ensure general awareness among the student body about ASUA and its services.
Sen. Sara Birnbaum, executive vice president-elect, reduced the senator's workweek from 20 hours to 15 hours.
She said the change would give senators more structure.
She also made it a requirement for each senator to hold a council meeting with club representatives on the first Tuesday of every month.