Student Union officers are looking to close the gap between students and the government that represents them on campus.

Student Union (SU) passed a resolution last week to have each SU senator represent a group of specific students in an effort to make student government more accessible. Each senator will initiate direct contact between 100 and 250 students, depending on which school he or she represents.

The election process will not change as a result of the resolution, but students will have a particular SU senator to whom they can voice concerns and comments. SU hopes that this will encourage students to engage in conversation with their representatives.

“It puts a face on SU and attaches a name to the Senate that people can connect with,” said SU President David Ader. “It also provides another outlet for people to contact SU. It simplifies communication between students and senators.”

Currently, senators serve their respective schools. The new groups will be chosen at random to ensure that each representative contacts a sample of students that could realistically characterize the population as a whole.

Senators from the College of Arts & Sciences will represent approximately 20 students, while Art and Architecture senators will have smaller groups, since both schools have fewer than 250 students.

Freshman SU Senator Greg Finkelstein proposed the idea, which was met with significant enthusiasm on the part of the other senators. The SU Senate has discussed ideas such as this in previous debates, but only in general terms.

Finkelstein noted that other universities had implemented similar systems using larger groups of students.

“This is a roadmap for us,” said Finkelstein.

Some senators did raise concerns regarding the inequality among groups, stating that some of the random groups might be more interested in certain issues than others. Another concern expressed in debate was that senators, who will probably get special e-mail addresses for contacting their constituents, could use those addresses for inappropriate purposes, such as election reasons. Speaker of the SU Senate Marc Bridge said senators had no ulterior motives in proposing the resolution. He characterized the bill as a tool to close the gap between students and SU.

“The goal was to make SU tangible and accessible,” said Bridge. “We want to let our fellow students know what we have accomplished.”

Outreach is another goal of the resolution.

A resounding majority of the senators voted in favor of the resolution, with 15 voting to pass, two voting against and three abstaining.

The resolution is now in a trial period that will last until October 2005, just before SU elections. Ader said SU has always been concerned with getting in touch with constituents as effectively as possible and that he hopes this will be a useful measure.

“Maybe it’s a step in the right direction, maybe it’s a step in the wrong direction,” Ader said. “This is just a trial thing [at this point].”

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