Only four student senate members have fulfilled the diversity requirement bylaw that was widely debated last fall when it was proposed, and time is running out for them to do so.

Those four are Senate members Nicole Hodges, Marty Ruhaak, Dwight Nelson and Tim Edwards, all of whom attended a meeting of a group they were not involved in, Diversity Affairs Committee Chair Shonda Clancy said Monday.

A fifth senate member had also completed the requirement, but has since resigned.

When senate members attend a diversity event, they must then fill out their name and the name of the event, and some personal reflections or comments to meet the requirement, Clancy said. All four said they enjoyed the events.

Numbers this low may suggest the requirement of the bylaw needs to be revised, Daryl Jones, student vice president for public affairs and co-author of the bylaw, said Monday.

However, neither Jones nor Speaker of the Senate Joe Robbins see the need to reevaluate the bylaw just yet. Jones said he suspects members have completed the requirement but not yet the necessary paper work.

“I don’t think we should jump the gun,” Jones said.

Some members may have attended a diversity event but not completed the paperwork, Clancy added. She said there is still plenty of time because April is diversity month.

Senate members have been busy with the new student representation system that went into effect this semester, for which senate members currently have to attend two Recognized Student Organization meetings.

Determining what makes an event “diverse” was a large part of the initial discussion on the bylaw.

Senate members finally settled on the definition given in the senate bylaws which bases diversity event on one that explores such aspects as race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, culture, sexual orientation and disabilities. Senate members are expected to attend an event they would not normally attend.

Clancy said she will probably get all the paperwork at the last minute, and senate members could not forget, because she reminds them every week.

Robbins said at this time the requirement is not currently achieving what the senate was out to achieve, if only four members are going to do it.

Student Body President Hugh O’Hara said he would like to see all the Senate members fulfilling the requirement, but there is not much he can do about it.

“I hope they all do it and don’t just take the committee meeting absence,” he said.

The current penalty for not fulfilling the requirement is one committee meeting absence, which amounts to 1/3 of a Senate meeting absence, Jones said. Three missed senate meetings is grounds for removal from the Senate.

A possible course of action may be to increase that penalty, Jones said, though the original bylaw only encouraged attendance at a diverse event and had no penalty attached.

However, all involved have said it is too early to determine what action might be taken, if any.

The Student Senate enacted the diversity bylaw last November, which requires senate members to attend one diversity event per semester. The event could not be a Student Government-sponsored event.