The 11 open senate seats will be filled at tonight’s Student Government meeting; however, no new legislation is on the agenda.

The Student Senate will meet at 7 p.m. in the Tuscola-Arcola room located in the Martin Luther King Jr. Union.

Eleven of the 20 candidates appointed by Jason Sandidge, speaker of the student senate, will be seated in the audience. Each individual appointment will be present on the consent agenda to be approved by the senate.

“I heard there are a lot of qualified candidates, I am excited to see who is appointed,” said Jarrod Scherle, a Student Senate member.

Ceci Brinker, the student government adviser, will swear in the new members and they will take their seats among the other student government members.

“I want (the incoming senators) to truly work hard and represent what they stand for,” said Mary Lane, the internal affairs chair.

Sandidge also has expectations of the incoming senators.

“I expect a lot of physical interaction with the students to let the students know that we are there for them,” Sandidge said.

They will also discuss the newly appointed Student Senator and what they have to offer the student government.

Sandidge said few of the incoming senators are transfer students who have been on student government at their former schools and they will have new ideas to bring to the table.

“There are a lot of good ideas coming from them, it will be exciting to see the senators implementing their new ideas,” Sandidge said.

The senate plans to ease the transition of the incoming members.

“At first they might be intimidated, but I will encourage them to not be afraid to speak their mind,” Scherle said.

Scherle mentioned helping the new senators with senate expectations and sharing stories of what aspects have worked in the past for student government and what has not worked.

Also at the meeting, each of the student senators will be assigned to a committee.

“We are separate committees, but we need to work as one,” Lane said. “I want to do something interactive by focusing on more team building activities.”

The student senate is also looking to place a senator to head the diversity committee. This position entails announcing the numerous activities on campus and demonstrating to students the awareness that student government has on diverse activities.

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-7942 or

rjrodgers@eiu.edu.