The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News September 24, 2004

Senate resolves money woes

The Student Senate started off the academic year with a new supervisor and without a budget. Fortunately, after an appeal, the problem was resolved and they can proceed with their normal work as soon as the annual elections, which started just a couple of days ago, are over and eight new senators come on board.

Due to a formal documentation misunderstanding from spring semester, there was no budget proposal for Student Senate, which is approved by the Student Financial Committee.

“There was a miscommunication between SFC representatives and Student Senate,” said College senior and class president for class of 2005 Morgan Shelton.

“At the closing of spring, semester Senate thought that our budget was finalized when it actually wasn’t,” Morgan said. “We have currently resolved the issue.” 

After filing an appeal at the beginning of this week, the Senate is looking forward to receiving their annual budget.

“Student Senate is blessed to have the financial resources and capabilities the administration allocates for us,” said sophomore Matt A. Kaplan. “We are far ahead of the curve compared to many peer institutions with our funding, resources and the help and guidance of newly appointed Dean Kawaguchi.”

Shozo Kawaguchi, the new associate dean of students’ life at the Dean of Students office, is supervising the work of the Senate.

“I would call myself the point person from the Dean of Students’ office,” said Kawaguchi.

The seven returning senators have already gotten accustomed to working with Kawaguchi. 

“Dean Kawaguchi’s organization, creativity and higher education background have provided tremendous leadership,” Kaplan said.

Soon the Senate will fill in the seats for the eight new senators, as the elections started earlier this week. This year, similar to the elections in the spring semester last year, the ballots are not distributed to students’ OCMR boxes.

“This year we are issuing electronic ballots via e-mail,” Shelton said.

“Through an internet program called Survey Monkey, a ballot will be sent to each student’s e-mail account. The student will be able to click on the provided link and vote for candidates. This process will increase the speed of the election process and provide a more efficient manner to counting votes.”

Shelton expressed her opinion that students are more likely to respond to e-mails than to vote via paper ballots.

“The Senate is working diligently to ensure a smooth election process. The nominations were highly publicized and effectively gathered,” Kaplan said.

“Student Senate will be in full function once the elections are complete. We should not have a problem filling the eight remaining spots with qualified, diverse, educated and engaging minds.”

The next thing on the agenda of the Senate will be student appointments to the different committees on which there are student seats.

“Student Senate is working diligently to appoint interested students to various faculty committees,” Kaplan said.

“This aspect is integral for representing the diverse student needs that Oberlin embodies. We are grateful to the administration, faculty and professional staff for providing a forum for all students to have a voice, reach out and interact with the administration.”

Througout last week Student Senate has been recruiting prospective candidates for the faculty committees. 

“Each day we have had a table in front of Wilder advertising our committee fair,” Shelton said. “Tomorrow is our final day to recruit student members. We are holding interviews this weekend to decide who will serve on which committee.”
 
 

   

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