The 33rd Student Senate will halve the powers of the Student Senate chair over the next few weeks with the creation of a new student leadership position on campus: Student body president. Last Friday, the Senate voted in favor of the proposal, with one senator abstaining. The proposal included a sunset clause; after the next year the senate will review the progress of the president and decide whether or not to make the position permanent.
“I think it’s a great idea and it will be a beneficial person to have, especially for the chair,” said Student Senator Daniel Johnson. “It seems like its good to have a check-and-balance system. It’s good to have a system where we can battle back and forth.” The student body president will have the power to veto the Student Senate’s proposals. In turn, the Senate can override the president with a two-thirds majority vote.
Senate Vice-Chair Andrew Bossie sees this as an important addition to the student government.
“I think it will work well for the students because they will have somebody to represent their needs,” he said. Currently, the Student Senate chair is expected to be impartial and unbiased in regards to the Senate, but must also represent the student body. “It’s important to separate the duties of the chair,” said Bossie.
Currently, at least two students have expressed interest in the position: Student Senator Joshua Chaisson and Portland Hall Resident Assistant Joshua Force. Neither of the students has filled out an intent-to-run form at print time and the ring is still open for more students to “throw in their hats.”
“I think there going to be quite a few people running but it could also be limited,” said Bossie. “It’s a huge amount of responsibility. The student is going to have to work well with the Senate and work well with the administration. It’s going to be a huge amount of pressure on this person. It’s a lot of responsibility on a student.” The Student Senate made intent-to-run forms available in the Student Life offices on both the Gorham and Portland campuses and in the Student Involvement Center.
Chaisson, who abstained from the vote, supported the creation of the new position. “I do have an interest in running for [student body president]. I figure it wasn’t a good idea to vote upon it because of a possible conflict of interest.” According to Chaisson the position will be an important one for students because “the student currently has no specific person to go to. They currently have a ‘body’ to go to which makes it difficult to get things done. There is no one specific person for the students to go to and know that person will listen to them.”
Force echoed Chaisson when asked why he felt the position was important. “I think that there is a lot of potential for student government on campus,” said Force. “There’s not really a go-to guy who’s really visible on campus. I know there is the chair of the Senate…but they don’t really fulfill the role of the president.”
Both interested students realize they may set precedents in this new position and both want the precedent to be on getting issues resolved. “If I were to set a precedent it would be to energize the student government in getting things to happen,” said Force. “Sometimes if there’s one person with a solidifying idea and they’re driving for it, it can be easier to get something accomplished.”
Chaisson has a different approach: “The first year is very important because there is a sunset clause to the constitution,” said Chaisson. “I think it’s important to put a lot of hard work into this. I don’t think this position is for someone who doesn’t have time to put into going to meetings, listening to student concerns and stuff like that… If I’m elected I want to work in collaboration with the Student Senate. I want to get things done…Working alone is a lot tougher than working with other persons.”