One fed up and both overworked, two student senators resigned from the Student Senate for different reasons on Oct. 27.

Alex Boyd, a junior political science major, served as a student senator for four semesters before resigning.

“It seemed as though nothing concrete was being done for the students this semester,” Boyd said. “I felt like nothing was being accomplished to directly benefit students and too much time has been spent on fixing themselves such as the Student Senate Oversight Committee.”

Boyd said student senators are responsible for representing students and addressing their concerns so the students should be the main focus of the Student Senate.

“I understand it is important to find ways to benefit the student government, but too much focus was put into that and it doesn’t seem like any students have been helped,” Boyd said.

An important factor in Boyd’s decision to resign was that he was no longer enjoying being a member of the Student Senate, he said.

“I always said that people should not be on student government if they are not happy doing it so I realized it was necessary for me to leave,” Boyd said. “I enjoyed it when we were being productive and it felt really good to make a difference on campus, and I miss being a part of that.”

Boyd said he also resigned to have more time to focus on schoolwork.

Alex Lais, a sophomore undecided major, resigned after serving two semesters as a student senator and said his reasons were strictly personal and did not reflect on the direction of the Student Senate.

“I felt like I was not putting forth 100 percent with our general planning efforts, and I did not want to bring the student government down,” Lais said. “While I was a (student) senator, I think that I benefited in a number of ways with seeing the work ethic of the leaders and being able to incorporate that within myself.”

He said he did not think it was fair to the Student Senate that he was focusing more on Registered Student Organizations he is involved in and applying for different possible leadership opportunities on campus.

Lais said the main difference between the Student Senate this semester and last semester is that it is made up of a younger senate.

“There are less veterans on the (Student) Senate this semester but with younger senators comes a new way of thinking, and I think they are catching up very fast and providing a good transition period,” Lais said. “I know students want to see instant gratification with seeing results from student government but we try to find out what needs to be changed, and then we try to take the initial steps to make those changes.”

Rachel Rodgers can be reached at 581-2812 or rjrodgers@eiu.edu.