All Eastern students are given the opportunity to voice their issues and concerns regarding the university; however, many do not use this privilege.

The quickest way for Eastern students to get their issues heard and get the attention of 30 senators is to attend the weekly Student Senate meetings, said Tommy Nierman, the external relations chair.

Every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Arcola/Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, students have a chance to have their voices heard and address their problems, questions and concerns during the Student Senate meeting.

“If you have a problem this helps get your opinion heard and noticed,” said Nierman, a junior business management major.

Student Senate Speaker Jarrod Scherle said many students are not taking advantage of participating in the weekly Student Senate meetings.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, but attendance at the meeting can get up to 10 on a good week,” said the senior finance major. “It’s never more than 10. Five is a good average.”

Scherle said the only time the Student Senate receives a rush of students is during elections or if a big controversial topic is being discussed or debated on, such was the Douglas versus Douglass debate.

Last fall semester, Associate Professor of English, Chris Hanlon, proposed to change the name of Stephen A. Douglas Hall to Frederick Douglass Hall.

Many organizations, including student government, were at the forefront of this issue, which raised attendance at the Student Senate meetings.

Scherle said many students did not want the name change of Douglas Hall, and while taking notice of the student needs, he wrote a resolution against the name change.

“Students were dramatically outspoken against this,” he said. “There were extremely more people that came to this meeting than last spring election results.”

Despite the ending of the Douglas versus Douglass debate, he still wants to consistently see high student participation at the Student Senate meetings, Scherle said.

“We have a very enthusiastic senate that is looking for things to do,” he said. “I would always encourage someone who has suggestions to the smallest; let’s plant a tree to something as big as building a new football stadium.”

Although students can suggest many issues and changes, many proposed concerns have to be researched.

Student Body President Michelle Murphy said the Student Senate has to research when someone brings an issue.

“If it’s an issue outside of our realm of control we try to send it to the person who we think can help,” she said. “Even if student government directly can’t fix your problem or answer your questions, we have a library of networks and contacts with people who can.”

Murphy said students who want to participate in the Student Senate meetings will be placed in the audience participation section of the meetings.

“It is the first thing on the agenda at the beginning of the meetings,” she said.

In order to make students more aware of meetings, Student Senate has posted information on Eastern’s event calendar, Facebook and the student government’s website. Also, the Student Senate plans to purchase two sandwich boards to be placed outside the union to advertise the time, date and location of the weekly meetings.

Scherle said he is currently seeking the Student Senate approval to release money for this Wednesday’s meeting.

“This is just another attempt to get students out to our meetings,” he said. “Students deserve to know what’s going on.”

Jessica Leggin can be reached at 581-281 or jmleggin@eiu.edu