What is Union's Senate? A Conversation With Kelina Rodgers
It recently came to my attention that Union has a student senate. This was news to me, and I imagine it would be for several other people as well. I was very curious, so this past week I reached out to the Senate’s Vice President, Kelina Rodgers, to learn more about it.
Drew Hickman (DH): So, what exactly is Senate? I've never really heard of it before. How would you explain it to me or any other students who don't know about it?
Kelina Rodgers (KR): “Student Senate is the student government at Union College. ASB is the Student Body, while the Student Senate is the government branch. Student Senate is where ideas for changes on campus are brought and discussed. We pass bills to make those changes around campus and we approve certain things that ASB does before they are allowed to do it.”
DH: What sorts of roles are there?
KR: “Overall, all senators are equal and share the same role of representing the people in their district by bringing their ideas for changes to the entire Senate at our meetings. That’s the senators’ main job and the reason why they chose to run to be a senator.”
DH: How do people go about fulfilling those roles?
KR: “The way senators can fulfill this role of bringing ideas of change to the group is by writing bills. A bill is a formal, written proposal that outlines what they want to be changed, how it would be changed and why it should be changed. Once a Senator proposes a bill, they present it to the entire Student Senate, and then the group votes on it. If a majority votes to pass the bill, then it has been passed through the Senate and gets passed along to the appropriate faculty so the process of implementing it can begin.”
DH: If it's a Senate, I'm assuming people can request things of their senator to bring up at meetings? How do people get in contact with their representatives? What sorts of things have been example outcomes of that?
“Yes, the whole idea is for each Senator to represent the people in their district! They would love to hear ideas or suggestions from people in their hall or their area. Many senators have posted up things to identify themselves, such as posters, but if someone isn't sure who their senator is, they should ask their RA or email me so they can be put into contact with them! There is always a possibility that after talking to your Senator, they decide to write a bill on your idea and try to get the change that you wanted to see happen. If you have an idea or suggestion, definitely bring it to your senator so they have a chance to help you make it a reality!”
Drew Hickman is a sophomore studying communication.