The student senate did not meet quorum for the third week in a row, meaning that they have not met quorum all semester.  

With the 12 of the 15 senators needed, the student senate could not approve Sen. Jasmine Yusef to the faculty senate, Justin Richards, the graduate assistant for the Student Activities Center for the student government, to the distinguished faculty award nomination committee, Student Body President Lucy Ade to the bond revenue committee, or Sen. August Biernbaum and Sen. Alexis Donner to the bond revenue committee.  

During the meeting, Angelo Siwecki-Wilder, a junior organizational development major, was appointed to the student senate.   

Interim Dean of Students Jody Stone introduced himself at the meeting. Stone, who spent much of his career at Eastern in housing, transitioned into this role in Dec. 2022. The position is new as of the 2022-2023 academic year  

The student senate will be holding elections for both executive positions and senator positions for next school year. There is a timeline of events can be found on the student government website.  

The executive positions that are available are student body President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Vice President of Student Affairs. All of these positions start on July 1 and end on June 30, which is when the fiscal year starts and ends.   

Students can also apply to be senators for the student senate. Students must have at least a 2.5 grade point average while being a full-time student. Those on the student senate must attend meetings every Wednesday at 7 p.m. and meetings for their assigned committee.   

When looking for senators, Lucy Ade, the student body president, looks for students who can take charge and want to make a difference on campus.   

Ade started out as a senator her freshman year prior to moving up the ranks until she became student body president as a junior. As a sophomore, she was Executive Vice President (EVP), which is a position that includes being on Eastern’s board of trustees.   

Ade adds that students do not have to have experience as a senator to be in the student senate. She wants students to know that it is easy to rise up the ranks in the student senate.  

“I’m looking for student leaders who want to take that next step, student leaders who are ready to take that next step and be a student body position or for senator positions, students who go ‘I want to get involved on a campus wide way’ can be student senators,” Ade said. “You don’t need to have experience to be a student senator. I came in with almost little to no experience on leading and governing, and now I’m student body president. I went from student senator to EVP to President. That’s something students can do.” 

There will be a variety of informational events for those wanting to learn more about what it takes to be on student senate. The first of the events is the week of Feb. 13 at a time and location to be determined. 

 Katja Benz can be reached at 581-2812 or at kkbenz@eiu.edu.