Following a renewed effort at transparency and bipartisanship in Student Government, a new Student Senate committee was created to review the selection process for replacement senators and committee seats; however some senators feel the endeavor has no clout.
Student Senate President Jordan Johnson, a member of the Gator Party, appointed the Replacement and Agenda Transparency Committee last week, but Orange and Blue senators thwarted his efforts to reach out to them by rejecting invitations to participate.
Several Orange and Blue senators said the committee's duties belong to a committee already in existence: the Rules and Ethics Committee.
Orange and Blue Party Sen. Jonathan Ossip, a member of Rules and Ethics, said the transparency committee is an inadequate solution because it lacks the power to investigate Senate practices.
However, Rules and Ethics is able to issue a subpoena and demand documents, such as private e-mails, he said.
The R&A committee came under scrutiny earlier this month following an Alligator article revealing four Student Government officials - two of whom were R&A committee members - made plans through personal e-mail accounts.
The e-mails, which were sent in May, discussed plans to keep Orange and Blue Party members out of important Senate committees.
Johnson said the transparency committee was created in part because of the e-mails, but the committee's focus is to see if long-term changes are needed in the way R&A conducts business, not to evaluate what's already happened.
"There's an inherent culture in Student Government that calls for clarification," he said.
He said the transparency committee was his idea and UF's Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin was supportive. Telles-Irvin declined to comment for the story.
The transparency committee will submit a report of its recommendations Nov. 25 after evaluating the process of R&A meetings and interviews, Harrell said.
Johnson said the transparency committee was not created to investigate, but it could issue subpoenas through him.
"I'm just the guy coming in cleaning everything up," Johnson said.
Gator Party Sen. William Harrell, the transparency committee's chairman, said the group will examine the way the R&A committee interviews candidates and conducts its meetings.
Not all senators, especially Orange and Blue Party members, are sold on the committee's purpose.
Orange and Blue Sen. Benjamin Dictor said he refused to join the transparency committee because it is primarily a public relations "stunt" that will actually hide problems that should be revealed.
"You're asking the fox to watch the hen house, essentially," Dictor said.
