Before the school year began, the Student Senate has already lost and gained a vice president.
In early August, Vice President of Student Rights and Campus Relations Ashlie Cloudt-Barrall resigned from the senate.
On Aug. 24, the De Anza Associated Student Body Senate elected Sanjeet Heyer as Vice President of Budget and Finance. No one ran for the position during last spring’s election.
"I don’t know the official reason [for Cloudt-Barrall’s resignation]. I know that when she talked to me it was that she didn’t have enough available time to fill the position," said Executive Vice President Bernardo de Seabra.
Last Wednesday, the executive council voted to follow the process used for the August Budget and Finance Vice President election, where the nominations were opened to the student body for electing Cloudt-Barrall’s replacement in the fall.
The student senate will advertise the open position the second week of school, candidates will be nominated the third week at the senate meeting and the student senate will hold elections the fourth week, said de Seabra.
The Vice President of Student Rights and Campus Relations position has seen the greatest number of changes out of all the vice presidential positions over the past two years. In the spring of 2003, Jihai Park was elected. She resigned on Nov. 5, 2003 and was replaced by Danielle Johanson. In 2004, Martha Ruiz was elected and also resigned by never being sworn in. Nafees Hamid was elected by the senate on Sept. 29, 2004 to replace her and resigned Feb. 9, 2005 and was replaced by Cloudt-Barrall who was elected last spring and has now resigned.
"From what I see, they [senators who resign] take the senate as a lower priority," said de Seabra. There are things that are beyond his control, he said, like class load and employment, but he plans to keep people on senate by "working closely" with them and creating specific goals as well as making sure that they respect the bylaws and "take their positions seriously."
Last year, nine people ran for a total of 21 non-executive senator positions. All the candidates were elected. The only senator to resign and never be sworn in is Rithika Kumer, who also resigned on August 10. During the summer, additional people applied to become senators through the midterm election process. There are currently eight positions available.
