The Undergraduate Senate represents and advocates for AU students, but does the Senate’s makeup reflect the AU student body?
The 5th Undergraduate Senate began this month and will continue through October 2010. The Eagle surveyed by e-mail the new and old senators, asking their majors, issues they want to advocate for this session, their home states, class and more. Here are the results from the 23 senators who responded to the survey:
Seven of the senators, or 32 percent, are female. In comparison, more than 62 percent of the AU student body is female, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.
Alli Zottala, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said even though the Senate does not reflect AU’s female-male ration, women are involved in other organizations on campus.
The Senate is still diverse, she said, since “there are a lot of kids involved who come from different friend groups and are not just from one group of students.”
In addition to few female senators, there are only a few non-Caucasian senators.
There are no students in the Senate with hometowns outside of the United States, while about 6 percent of the AU population is international students, according to the Princeton Review.
President for the Class of 2013 Jose Morales said he was hesitant to say the make-up of the Senate did or did not represent the AU student body.
SG as a whole represents the university well, but the Senate lacks Hispanic and black members, Morales said.
“I would not place the fault on the Senate because it all counts on people who want to run [for Senate seats],” he said.
The SG Senate reflects the U.S. Senate, which has only a few minority senators, Morales said.
“If more males are interested in SG, they have got to be able to reach out to female constituents,” he said. “If they are only going to listen to their male, Caucasian constituents, that’s a huge problem.”
The top issues the senators said they are going to advocate for are sustainability, housing, the shuttle system and meal plans. Lowering the Zipcar age limit to 18-years-old and improving dialogue with administration were also popular issues the senators said they would like to work on.
The majority of the SG senate members, 63 percent, have majors in the School of Public Affairs. There are currently no senators in the Kogod School of Business and only one from the School of Communication. Three senators are in the College of Arts and Sciences and four are in the School of International Service.
Most senators are in the Class of 2012, with nine senators. The Class of 2010 has six and is closely followed by the Class of 2013 with five. The Class of 2011 lags with only four senators at press time.
You can reach this staff writer at landerson@theeagleonline.com.
LINDSEY ANDERSON / THE EAGLE
SG REPRESENT — Many senators plan to advocate for increased sustainability at AU, shuttle changes, meal plan reform and improved housing (top). The majority of senators are in the School of Public Affairs with 14 (bottom). The School of International Service has four senators, three are from the College of Arts and Sciences, one from the School of Communication and none from the Kogod School of Business. This chart does not reflect senators confirmed Sunday, Oct. 25.
