Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024

The UF Student Senate has two meetings remaining this Summer, and while the chamber has had the opportunity to approve budgets and pass more than a dozen resolutions, it has yet to have the chance to approve all of the Executive Branch agency heads.

This is due to the fact that the Executive Committee has not approved of nominations since the final Senate meeting of the Spring semester on April 21, a span of 93 days.

Six of the 13 agency head positions — Accent chairperson, Action SG chairperson, Chomp the Vote director, External Affairs director, Student Government Productions chairperson and Student Government Productions comptroller — are vacant.

Senate President Davis Bean said at Tuesday’s Senate meeting that the Executive Committee — which consists of Student Body President Joselin Padron-Rasines, Vice President Kevin Doan, Treasurer Nicholas Carre, Senate Pro-Tempore Leah Miller, Budget and Appropriations Chairman Smith Meyers and Bean — has met just once this summer.

With the vacancies, Bean said there is about $1.5 million that is unable to be touched until the positions are filled.

“It’s pretty upsetting that is the case in fact,” Bean said at Tuesday’s meeting, “but what could be even more upsetting is that most of the students on campus have no idea that this is happening.”

The group met twice in April — before Padron-Rasines, Doan and Carre were officially in their respective positions as president, vice president and treasurer — to deliberate and determine the first round of nominations, Padron-Rasines said.

Of the 13 agency heads nominees presented to Senate at that April 21 meeting, seven were approved.

Padron-Rasines said there has been a lot of unwillingness to move forward but said future meetings will be related to interviewing nominees.

She added there will be interviews for the supervisor of elections, election commissioners and Supreme Court, which the Executive Branch has the sole power to nominate.

Minority Party Leader Michael Christ (Access, Graduate) said compromise is needed from both sides in order for any nominations to go through.

“A solution for the students will come,” Christ said.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 7/23/15]

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.