The latest proposal to improve the effectiveness of ASUA senators ÷ extending the length of their campaigns ÷ represents a valiant effort to educate senate candidates in the feasibility of their projects. But it doesn't go far enough.

The change in elections' procedure will give potential candidates more time to research their proposals, but probably won't lead to more thoughtful plans.

Regardless of the time they're given to do research, history indicates that it is unlikely that many actually will, and that even fewer will do enough to develop useful plans.

So let's just admit it ÷ the senate will never be a viable legislative body.

Eliminating it entirely would probably be a mistake, because it would make life too easy for the president and other executive officers, who would no longer be held accountable by anyone within ASUA.

But there would be little harm in scaling it back.

Let's decrease the number of senators from 10 to five.

Would anybody really notice a difference if the legislative body's size were cut in half?

As it is, students don't notice the senate. So reducing its size wouldn't make the body less visible.

Sure, it might mean fewer projects would get enacted, but because so few ever come to fruition, and because even fewer actually impact people's lives, it isn't likely many students would care.

Senators earn about $1,000 per year. That's not much, but the $5,000 ASUA would save by not paying these salaries could be used for more productive purposes.

Perhaps having fewer senators would mean they would take their responsibilities more seriously. Perhaps it would be easier to educate fewer people about the issues.

In practice, the senate now acts as little more than a place for students to pad their resumes while discovering that they'll never be able to accomplish their implausible campaign promises.

In recent weeks, we've seen plenty of examples of senators learning this lesson ÷ the same lesson that new senators seem to learn every year.

The situation is drastic, and calls for a drastic reaction. Cutting the senate's size might be just the solution.

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.