Student Senate elections are over and the newly-elected senators are preparing for the year. On Thursday, September 20, the Gustavus community voted on their peers to represent them in Student Senate.

“We just got up and running, but committee work hasn’t gotten started yet,” Senior Senate Co-President Josh Sande said. “People need to figure out what they want to do and which committees they want to be on.”

This year’s senate has a number of projects that they plan to work on.

“A couple of highlights are our issue forums, which we’re hoping will help people to get involved and get informed. There will be three, regarding the Voter ID amendment on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, the marriage amendment on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012 and the 1st District Congressional Race on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. We’re also hoping to revisit Breaking Barriers and get that up and running soon, so people should be looking out for sign-ups,” Sande said.

“We’d also like to get a solid answer on housing surcharges this year, as this was one of our campaign goals,” Senior Senate Co-President Tasha Ostendorf said. “We were around the last time it was brought up, and thought that the surcharges would be removed the year following the last discussion.

“Our other main issue is the Dive, and trying to figure out how to move forward with that issue,” Ostendorf said.

“We want to make progress and move forward, we don’t want to be stagnant,” Sande said.

“We want to work on doing our traditional duties, but also want to keep new and long-term projects rolling. Our pursuit of re-negotiating Gustavus cable has been stalled because we have a contract with Mediacom for the next five years, so we want our other projects to keep moving forward,” Sande said.

Senate is also continually reviewing its own internal systems.

“The Ethics Committee is responsible for ensuring that the Senate constitution and by-laws are enacted on behalf of the student body, so those are always being reviewed,” Senior Senate Ombudsperson Eiler Hendrickson said.

“A lot of the issues Senate deals with are small projects that we take on as they arise. We want people to feel like they can bring these issues to us,” Ostendorf said.

“A lot of people complain to their friends about things, but no one says anything to Senate, and it’s hard to do our jobs when no one’s telling us about problems they’re having,” Ostendorf said.

“We want to make students feel like they can tell us what they want changed.  They can email us, send us mail through the POs or even put notes under our door in the Gustie Den,” Sande said.

Those wishing to voice their concerns to Student Senate are encouraged to either follow the steps above or email sandendorf@gustavus.edu.

Those interested in getting involved can either email to join committees and students-at-large or, for international students, there is an international student position available for students who are not United States citizens by emailing rhenric2@gustavus.edu.

Representatives from the Fall 2012 Student Senate Election:

Arbor View – Cameron Michelsen

Chapel View – Nick Nigro

College View – Sara Fogelberg

Complex – Hannah Heider

Complex – Rosalie Repke

First Year – Travis Sigafoos

International Center – Samuel Warburton

Junior Class – Michael Morimoto

Norelius – Hayley Nemmers

Norelius – Katie Kemp

Off-Campus – Hannah Vogel

Off-Campus – Tyler Schultz

Pittman Hall – Robert Rasmussen

Prairie View – Nick Gersch

Rundstrom Hall – Mike Howe

Senior Class – Blake Gust

Sophomore Class – Joseph Thayer

Southwest Hall – Janet Montes-Osorio

Uhler – Christina Sand