Over the last two weeks, he DASB Senate made vital changes to the positions in office, including the resignation of former DASB president Dylan Kim and six senators, and the appointment of 12 new senators.

Former vice president Kalani Hettige took the position of president while former senator Ahmad Ali-Ahmad was unanimously elected as vice president.

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, 12 candidates were sworn into office, nearly doubling the senate in size.

Vice Chair of Administration, Ruby Khan, 19, political science and math majors; said she looks for candidates that have “a balance between emotional intelligence and technical capabilities.”

She also hopes the incoming senators will be able to balance school, work, extracurriculars and being in office.

During the new candidates’ interviewing process, they were asked to describe common issues that affect students’ daily lives.

Newly appointed Senator Brandi Sue Madison, 46, environmental science major, brought forth her research about students’ dissatisfactions on campus.

For her research she asked 50 students about their top three concerns on campus, which were “parking, internet problems and security at night,” which are the first things she will be focusing on as a senator.

Newly appointed senator Khaled Asim Haq, 18, business major,  proposed to the senate the idea of using Trello.com, an efficient team communication website, to help with any work that needs to be done and to help run the goals that need to be met.

At the Nov. 8 senate meeting, newly sworn in and former senators focused on the long-term goals for the senate board and the De Anza College community.

“I think my vision is a lot in line with Kalani’s. We want to see the senate do more long-term goals,” said newly appointed DASB vice president Ahmad Ali-Ahmad, 19, political science major.

“We’re going to appoint officers and managers in the marketing committee and make it more efficient and they’re going to maintain the relationships with students and communications department to make students more aware,” said Kalani.

As the senate board grew after the appointment of several new senators, so did the ideas and communication.

To help facilitate the arrival of all these new eager faces, a workshop was held to bring the senate closer together.

Incompleted tasks have been a highlight of what needs to be fixed in the senate.

The committees, along with the surge of students stepping in and getting involved reflected the change that is being made.

“We had a little problem with leadership, and now that we have a new president, things are going great,” Ahmad said.

The DASB senate ended the meeting with a discussion of the budget cuts that are the result of a decline in enrollment not just in De Anza, but in many community colleges.

This issue, which was pointed out by the finance committee, shows how important the relationship between students and the senators is.

Issues like budget cuts and the Eco Pass possibly being discontinued affect students directly.

DASB is making an effort to reach out and communicate to students with the hope that students will communicate back.