By Jaime Hoerbelt
On Tuesday, the Student Government Association senate held its first meeting of the academic year to address the initial concerns of the new semester as well as efforts to shorten meetings in the future. The senate welcomed new members, new ideas and new procedures. While the first gathering of the year is not always an accurate representation of meetings to come, it was apparent that brevity is the theme for this year. Because reports were limited to four minutes each, time was a concern as veterans introduced themselves and described their committees’ function to new members. The entire meeting was over within 45 minutes. Most senators found it easy to condense information, but others had more to say than the time limit allowed. One such senator was the Club Affairs chairman and former SGA president, Peter DiSilvio. As his committee has “all the good stuff,” he was pressed for time while attempting to report his agenda for upcoming events. Senators would debate legislation long into the night, with members leaving early or arriving late to add confusion and distraction to the proceedings. Two meetings last year ran from six p.m. until midnight, with the average meeting lasting two to two-and-a-half hours. The longevity of sessions and the lack of strict time constraints resulted in lapses in the formality of debates and repetition of ideas and opinions. The proposed goal is to make meetings run less than two hours, but some members doubt this year will be any different. “I don’t think the length of the meetings is anything that can be controlled,” DiSilvio said. “Issues and events come up and the meetings run longer than one would like. That is just the way it is.” The new “rules of the chamber,” a set of rules governing the way meetings run, were put into place as a solution to inefficiency and lengthiness of meetings. They were agreed on by a general vote by the senate, but were not officially placed into the constitution. This set of rules limits the quantity of legislation that can be heard each week and the amount of time spent on each issue. Under the new rules, only three pieces of legislation, one proposal and two resolutions can be introduced to the Rules Committee per week. Time allotted for reports and debate is also restricted. Sponsors and opposition are granted five minutes each; debates can last a maximum of 12 minutes for a resolution and 18 minutes for a proposal. However DiSilvio says that the rules of the chamber have “always existed in one way or another,” and the vice president can change the rules of debate and discussion during a meeting. He said the senate can also motion to suspend the rules at any time.