After serving a year in office, former ASUA senators say not only is it nearly impossible to live up to campaign promises but it might not even be in students' best interest to try to fulfill them.
As last year's Associated Students of the University of Arizona senators finish their term, some said senate projects don't reflect campaign promises but rather what needs to get done and where each senator finds their niche on the UA campus.
A new class of senators was inaugurated Monday and Matt Harris, former ASUA senator, had one piece of advice for them.
"Don't become pigeonholed with campaign platforms," he said.
Harris originally planned on supporting the greek system and promoting ASUA awareness, but abandoned those projects after he found something he had more heart for, the student activity fee.
"I didn't have any solid projects that I really liked that I thought would make a difference," he said. "But a student activity fee can really affect people. That's why I worked on that instead.'
Melanie Rainer, former executive vice president, said she agrees, to an extent.
"It's good to initially work on positions because you are making promises to the student body," she said. "Then, when you realize you can't achieve it, it is better and a more efficient use of time and energy of the senate to work on something that meets students' needs."
Harris said being a senator is about finding that one thing that can really make a difference.
"It's a hard task to find that one thing," he said. "I was lucky that I found the student activity fee."
During the school, year student leaders advocated a $15 per semester student activity fee to fund on-campus entertainment. Students voted against the fee during a special election.
Harris also said that in order to be successful, senators need to change what projects they intend to work on.
"You can pretty much look at senate projects from all senate history and realize 99 percent aren't even touched," he said. "There's always going to be complete deviation from their platforms."
Senators who re-evaluated their campaign promises immediately after they entered office were more likely to stick to their new ideas.
Soral Karim, former ASUA senator, who originally ran on a platform of arranging a multicultural fair, planning campuswide parties on the UA Mall, and giving out compatibility tests to incoming students, created new projects a month into his term as senator.
The new projects included working with the Freshman Class Council, coordinating residence hall formals, and serving as a student representative on the University Fees Committee.
"The things I was working on before didn't change at all," he said.
He said being a senator is like learning how to ride a bicycle.
"You can read about riding a bicycle all you want, but until you ride it, you don't know how it feels or what to do," he said.
Sara Birnbaum, former ASUA senator and newly inducted executive vice president, found a surplus of new projects to work on throughout the year.
She accomplished her original goals, which included creating the Collaboration Board and working on ASUA Day.
The Collaboration Board includes representatives from ASUA, the University Activities Board, Panhellenic Council, Interfraternity Council, Residence Hall Association and Graduate and Professional Student Council.
But while working on the projects she planned for the year, she took on some new projects including Up Till Dawn, the student activity fee, UA Late Night and a community relations forum that addressed problems and concerns among students, neighbors and law enforcement.
Up Till Dawn was an all-night dance party that raised $10,000 for cancer research. UA Late Night is a program that provides students with various activities all night long as an alternative to drinking on the weekends.
"You look at what needs to be done," she said. "There were clear issues with underage drinking and community relations, so I wanted to take that on."
Outgoing senators passed seven resolutions, the highest amount in the past 20 years, Rainer said. Resolutions included one supporting Israel, a faculty pay increase, tuition and environmentally conscious housing. They also passed resolutions stating they would not support a business fee without a merit-based and need-based waiver, that they are against terrorism, and that ASUA has no opinion on the student activity fee.
This year's senate also participated in the voter registration drive, ASUA Day and held office hours on the UA Mall.