Senate Absentees Continue to Delay Key Judicial Confirmations

Jazmine Santillana / Contributing Writer

 The Student Government Association continues to push back its agenda after not being able to meet quorum twice during the summer semester. 

Due to lack of attendance from senators, SGA hasn’t been able to hold its much needed confirmation hearings for judicial branch positions or discuss legislation in preparation for the upcoming Fall semester. 

“I had a few confirmations for this meeting, which means next week on Monday it will most likely be a whole two hours of just confirmations,” said SGA President Cristhofer Lugo after SGA was forced to cancel their July 18 meeting needing only two to three more senators to make quorum. 

Lugo recently signed an executive order to change the quorum requirement from 24 Senators for the fall and spring semesters, to 21 Senators for the summer semesters. 

Traditionally, the summer semester is the training period for newly elected SGA members to understand the processes of SGA. But with half of SGA not present, some get the experience while others will have to catch up in the Fall. 

“We have 40 senators, but if we do training and only 20 show up that means there is another set of 20 that missed the presentation and Senate. They are completely lost,” said Lugo. 

Lugo has expressed in the past that Summer is typically slower for attendance as students have busier schedules. Students tend to focus on internships, summer jobs, and study abroad trips. But Lugo hopes for attendance to improve in the Fall with more encouraging tactics to keep members coming. 

  “Something I’m going to suggest to Senate leadership is to reach out to those senators who missed a few meetings and who are still confused,” said Lugo. “Have that one-on-one conversation with those senators to bring them up to speed.” 

 Other SGA members have mentioned a hierarchy between those who regularly attend meetings and those who don’t, but also pitched their voice to help solve the situation. 

“I’ve noticed a lot of senators that have been attending or being a little bit condescending towards the people that aren’t,” said SGA Vice President Valentina Casanova during a July 19 Executive Board meeting. “So shifting their attitude to be more encouraging and positive to make people want to come.” 

SGA will meet a final time on July 25 before breaking for August until the Fall