Here's a shocker: ASUA senators can't fulfill their campaign promises. The news should come as no surprise to student government watchers ÷ or for that matter, anyone who's been on campus longer than a year.

Last week, the 10 senators, who represent all the UA's undergraduates, turned in project proposals. But those proposals have almost nothing in common with the promises the senators made on the campaign trail last spring.

Normal campaign politics? Just another case of budding politicians making promises they can't keep?

Nope. It's ignorance. Even the senators admit they didn't know what they were getting into.

"What I campaigned was things I didn't know much about," Senator Soral Karim said in yesterday's Wildcat.

Karim had campaigned on a platform of compatibility quizzes for residents, giant Mall parties and multicultural fairs. Now he's working with the freshman class council and coordinating residence hall formals.

Other senators have faced a similar jolt of reality.

The problem is not their new projects. Many seem worthy and valuable.

The problem is that these senators didn't bother to examine the feasibility of their proposals before they ran for office. And now, with only seven months left in their terms, they're finally learning what powers they actually have.

This isn't a new problem. Candidates make outrageous promises every year, and inevitably find they can't possibly be met.

Considering their terms only last a year, senators should be able to hit the ground running as soon as school opens. That means investing time and energy in research before campaign season and making promises that can be fulfilled.

This year's Senate still has a chance to make an impact on campus. By following through on their current projects, they can leave office in May having changed the UA for the better, even if it's only in a small way.

But the fact remains that the students who voted for these people were duped as a result of the senators' ignorance.

To students considering a run for next year's senate: Do your homework early. Elected representatives have a responsibility to work for their constituents, and it'd be nice to see a few more senators take that to heart from the beginning.

Opinions are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Shane Dale, Kristina Dunham, Brett Fera, Caitlin Hall and Jeff Sklar.