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Editorial: ASUA needs to speed up senate restructuring

ASUA needs to quicken its pace in order to achieve its goal of restructuring the Senate. On Wednesday, the Senate postponed the vote to approve the Senate restructuring survey which will be distributed to various campus groups.

The survey boasts six plans for restructuring the Senate, but the vote to distribute the survey was postponed because it did not include demographic sections for the various clubs on campus.

Senators Julie Burkhart and Ray Quintero began the project last semester. They started to draft a survey that would collect input from campus clubs about how the SUA ought to be restructured.

The question ASUA must answer is, why didn't ASUA think of this last semester?

That ASUA was unable to accomplish the simple task of drafting a feasible survey last semester is sad. Discussion about restructuring the Senate has taken place for several months, and ASUA Senators should have known that including information about demographics is important.

Senator Shane Brogan was correct when he said the survey would not be useful if it was sent to clubs without asking for such information as students majors and classifications.

"Even though this is going to clubs and organizations, I think it's important to know if this club is mostly seniors or agriculture students etcetera," Brogan said.

However, Burkhart, Quintero and others working on the project should have considered this fact last semester. The survey should have been completed promptly and thoroughly, with all the relevant items included. For ASUA to fail to accomplish a task as simple as developing a survey causes the UA campus to question exactly how useful the governing body is.

The daunting task of actually restructuring the Senate still looms ahead, and ASUA, which has been working on the project for several months, has yet to produce a simple survey to gain feedback from campus groups about how the Senate ought to be composed.

True, restructuring the Senate ought to be a carefully planned, adequately researched endeavor. ASUA is correct to approach campus organizations in order to gain input about how the campus student government is structured.

Several of the proposals included in the survey are excellent plans. One proposal calls for representatives from each college to serve on the Senate. Another proposes to divide the campus into districts, with one Senator representing each district. Others propose having the Senate represented by constituencies, like Greek Life, honor students, Residence Life and others.

All of these are positive, clearly thought-out plans. It's a shame ASUA cannot begin to work on one of them simply because they have yet to distribute the survey.

ASUA needs to prove it is serious about its plan to restructure the Senate by actually moving forth with the process. The student body deserves better representation, and ASUA needs to figure out how to deliver.