Miami University's Associated Student Government (ASG) met for the first time this semester Sunday following the on-campus senator elections Friday, Sept. 7.
According to President of Student Senate Peter Dougherty, there were a total of 59 on-campus senator candidates. Every residence hall on campus was represented, with the exception of Dodds Hall.
According to Dougherty, both the number of candidates who ran and the number of residence halls represented showed significant improvement from last year, which had 50 candidates and three halls not represented during the first election.
"I was just really happy with the amount of candidates we got this year," Dougherty said.
Out of the 59 on-campus senators, 24 were elected.
A special election will be held this month to fill the outstanding seat from Dodds Hall.
Once the Dodds seat is filled, Student Senate will consist of the 25 on-campus senators, one commuter senator and 24 off-campus senators.
Dougherty trained the senators during the first part of the meeting on ASG meeting procedures.
"I thought it went really fantastic," Dougherty said. "The student senators seemed to pick up on the parliamentary procedure pretty well, which can be really complicated for people who have never done it before."
ASG also discussed two bills at the meeting.
The first bill called for the Secretary to the Executive Cabinet to be renamed Chief of Staff. This bill is similar to one discussed at ASG last semester, which also included a pay raise for the Chief of Staff. The pay raise is not included in the new bill.
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The second bill would allow for the creation of an on-campus housing and dining committee, a parking and transportation committee and a libraries and technology committee, as well as revamp the Environmental Sustainability committee.
Each of these committees will be made up of senators and chaired by a senator. They will give reports to the Secretary for On-Campus Affairs, who will act as a liaison to the Executive Cabinet, according to Secretary for On Campus Affairs Cole Tyman.
"This is just to give each of these issues, each of these committees a voice at Cabinet meetings, which they might not have had in the past," Tyman said.
Both of these bills will be discussed again at the ASG meeting Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Dougherty said the senators were eager to address student concerns such as broken shower heads in residence halls and dining hall times changing.
Senior Senator Brittany Murphy said she thinks senate will be more productive because the new senators are not afraid to debate.
"The fact that people feel comfortable to voice their dissent will make this year's senate much more productive than in the past," Murphy said.
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