Although the mood in the Chesterfield Smith Classroom in the Levin College of Law turned comical as Tuesday’s Student Senate meeting was briefly interrupted by a shirtless student playing the saxophone for a promo video for Gator Growl, rhetoric stiffened with discussion of party neutrality.
Senate President Lauren Verno personally asked senators to leave buttons, T-shirts and any political party paraphernalia behind during the upcoming election season.
“I consider these chambers to be very unbiased,” she said.
In her past three years as a senator, Verno remembered tensions rising as students seemingly campaigned during Senate meetings.
“I really want this to feel like Senate and not two separate chambers,” she said after the meeting.
Sen. Helie Dharia took her Students Party pin off her purse and reversed her Students Party T-shirt for Tuesday’s meeting.
“We don’t want to cause problems,” she said after the meeting. “We want to be productive.”
Swamp Party Spokesman Joseph Michaels said senators within his party are discouraged from wearing anything distracting in Senate.
“Those in Senate are reminded that their job is to represent students,” he said.
As the Senate eases into election season, the second day of qualifying for Fall 2013 elections surpassed Monday’s numbers. After a record low turnout Monday, 167 students qualified Tuesday, according to Supervisor of Elections Justin Hoover.
A version of this story ran on page 8 on 9/11/2013 under the headline "Neutrality with a side of sax at Senate"
David Greenstein plays saxophone shirtless to Senate President Lauren Verno as Senate President Pro Tempore Cory Yeffet laughs Tuesday evening during the weekly Student Senate meeting at the Levin College of Law. Greenstein’s performance was part of a video promo for the 2013 Gator Growl.
