 "Photo: Mylo Wiles")
After a year in office, the 2008-2009 Associated Students Inc. (ASI) Senate has passed the torch and welcomed the newly elected officials into office.
On Wed., May 7, this year's ASI Senate began their final meeting, each of them saying a few parting words before retiring from their place at the table and welcoming the newly elected officials to take their seats for the first time.
Before the outgoing senate members said their parting words and the new senate members were sworn in, the floor was opened to the public for any new business. Newly elected ASI President, Heather Hanson took the opportunity to express her gratitude to the outgoing officials.
"As a student of Sonoma State I just want to thank all of you for representing the best interest of all the students at Sonoma State for the past year," said Hanson.
As each of the members at the table reflected on the past year, outgoing ASI President ,Derek Pierre took a moment to share a few words of inspiration with his peers.
"It has definitely been the most amazing experience," said Pierre. "I would like to thank all of the people around this table for all their hard work and dedication this past year and even more so I would like to congratulate the newly elected executives, and all of their new endeavors. I really wish you guys the best. Thank you everybody for making this experience everything that it was."
Pierre's farewell speech gained a round of applause from his fellow senate members and students and faculty members who attended the meeting in support and anticipation of the inauguration.
"To the incoming senators and executives, I am very excited to see your energy," said Casey Jones, outgoing speaker of the senate. "You guys are a dynamite group from what I can tell and what I have seen around campus. Congratulations, and you'll be sitting in these seats very soon."
After being sworn into office, and taking their seats at the table, the 2009-2010 ASI Senate went right to work. Their first order of business was to elect the new speaker of the senate. The candidates, Cameron Baxter, senator for the school of business and economics, Sean Richards, senator for the school of social sciences and Jesse Schwartz, also senator for the school of business and economics campaigned for the position.
"My main goal as speaker would be to increase communication," said Baxter. "I think it is really important to hear both sides of a discussion. Not everyone is going to agree on everything, but I think you just have to make sure that everyone's voice is equally heard."
Executive Vice President Jenny Tice expressed her concern about the previous disconnect between Sonoma State and the Rohnert Park City Council, asking candidates how they planned to address that issue, and create an open line of communication between the two.
"I think that ensuring representation in both the chamber of commerce and the city council is important," said Baxter.
Although most members of the senate thought Baxter could successfully fulfill the duties of speaker of the senate, the executive members felt that it was important to elect a speaker who would challenge them on their opinions and ideas, and felt that Baxter might not be able to do so effectively.
"Looking at me, I'm the youngest one up here," said Richards. "Some people think that's a bad thing but I think that gives me an advantage. What we do next year isn't really going to affect what happens next year as much as it is going to effect what happens the following year. I don't know that the other candidates will be in this as whole heartedly as I am."
As a freshman, senator Richards expressed a great deal of enthusiasm as well as ambition for the upcoming year, but his over ambitious goals may have worked against him in his campaigning efforts.
Although the senate found him to be qualified, many members had concerns about the amount of time Richards has to give to the position, as well as how he would prioritize his many extracurricular commitments.
"One issue that I really want to push is getting some sort of Greek housing," said Richards. "Another thing that I really want to accomplish is working on the student council's debt."
As a non-voting member of ASI, the speaker of the senate can express their opinion, but must remain neutral on all issues, and leave the vote to their fellow ASI members.
After discussing the pros and cons of electing Richards as speaker of the senate, it was decided that Richards would be more of an asset as a voting member of the senate.
"It is of utmost importance that these meetings run as efficiently and as productively as possible, and that is the cornerstone of the speaker of the senate," said Schwartz.
According to Schwartz the three most important roles of the speaker when ensuring efficiency are to plan the agenda as sufficiently as possible, to make sure that the meetings stay on course and to ensure that both sides of every issue are heard equally.
"I think the primary goal is for you guys to elect someone who is going to allow us to get the most bang for our buck, and believe it or not, I'm that guy," said Schwartz.
The ASI members found Schwartz's efficiency proposals to be a valuable asset to the senate, and many thought he could do a lot to improve the productivity of meetings.
After discussing each of the candidates, Schwartz was elected speaker of the senate with a majority vote, and Baxter was later elected speaker pro tempore, who will take the place in the absence of Schwartz.
After all orders of business had been addressed, the 2009-2010 ASI senate adjourned their first official meeting.
The final ASI meeting of the semester will take place on Wed., May 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the Student Union's Erin Fisher Room.
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