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There are not enough senators in the AUBG Student Government (SG). This is why on February 9th the students will be given another opportunity to vote for their desired candidate to become a new member of the SG. Out of 12 senators, three have left to participate in exchange programs and are now busy developing their leadership skills outside AUBG. One other senator left for personal reasons. So, this leaves us with four places to fill up. According to the SG constitution (article 8 A i) when this kind of situation occurs "the Senate shall be filled by the candidate with the greatest number of votes on the list, regardless of standing." Here is the catch - The runner-ups do not want to join the SG. One of the reasons is that students just don't have enough time because after losing the fall elections, they enrolled in other extracurricular activities. And, there you go: extraordinary elections to find one senator. The runner-ups filled only three out of four places.

The University of Cincinnati Student Government Constitution is one of many constitutions that state that all Student Senators shall hold the position for a year (Article IV). To my surprise, its counterpart in AUBG's SG does not say anything about the length of the senatorial term. As part of the student body, I felt there was something wrong when I found out the senator that I had voted for left. It is true, that for some people the SG is just a dozen of CV-ists, but there are others that really believe the senators are there for a purpose. Shouldn't SG candidates advertise whether or not they plan to serve a full term in the Senate? Is this fair?

The Senators who left are claiming they did not know they were going on an exchange program when they ran for the fall elections. But, during the campaign, did they not know that they intended to apply for such a program? And that there would be a possibility they would not be in AUBG the next semester?

There is no transition between the generations of senators. Four new students will join the SG, but it will take them a long time to actually get used to the atmosphere in the SG, learn what the SG has done so far, understand their goals and priorities, and be informed about the task forces they have built so far, etc.

It is not only about unanimous approvals on Wednesdays at 4 pm. The senators should know the responsibility they sign up for when they ask the students to vote for them. Quitting in the middle is not the way to go. The SG should have thought ahead and made the transition between the older and newer senators smoother. An amendment should be made to the SG constitution that will require a yearlong contribution from elected senators, unless something extraordinary happens.

What I did find in the SG's constitution that attracted my attention is that: "If more than one third of the Senate is filled according to this provision [runner-ups], a procedure for a new Senate election is started immediately by the President." (Article 8 Vacancies ii.) Meaning, if one more senator quits, the whole SG will be dissolved and new elections will proceed for 12 spots...