The current Missouri Students Association Senate session concludes this week amid discussion about how to improve senator accountability for the future.
Senate Speaker Jake Sloan, MSA committee chairpersons and senators have met to discuss ways to achieve this result.
“Our meeting was about how to make MSA a better and legitimate organization,” Student Affairs Chairman Tyler Ricketts said.
There was discussion of an incentive-based system where points would be used to show involvement in the Senate, but there is no definitive decision about implementing that yet, Ricketts said.
“I still think the point system is a good idea, but we’re going to go in a different direction first,” Sloan said.
Currently, there is no defined dress code for Senate meetings. Sloan said there will not be a required dress code in the future, but professional dress will be encouraged.
“We’re going to start dressing nicer for Senate meetings,” Sloan said. “There won’t be any requirements to dress-up, but if people start seeing the Senate speaker and the committee chairs doing it, they hopefully will too.”
An attendance sheet was another idea brought up at the meeting. Currently, the Senate parliamentarian takes roll at various times during the meeting. The new system would require senators to sign in and out of the meeting. Ricketts said this would make taking attendance easier and make sure senators stay for the whole meeting.
This summer, the senators will receive a “how-to” manual detailing the job of a senator, Sloan said.
“It’ll have instructions on how to do things like revising bylaws,” Sloan said. “Most people don’t know what to do when they’re senators, so this manual will help.”
Operations Committee Chairman Justin Mohn said the expectations of their position are not adequately communicated to senators.
“We need to set an example for the new senators, like do a better job explaining what the job entails,” Mohn said. “They need to know what opportunities are available and what is expected of them as a senator.”
Sloan said the process for becoming a senator will be revised for future elections.
“We’re making a more intricate process,” he said. “It’s not harder or easier but more detailed. We’ll play it by ear and see what happens.”
An applicant’s qualifications will be the deciding factor on whether he or she receives a position or not, Sloan said.
“I’ll review (the applications), and if I think they’re really interested in the position, I’ll forward the application to the committee chairs,” he said.
Mohn said improved leadership tactics were also discussed at the meeting.
“We have a need for more active and generally engaged leadership in Senate,” Mohn said. “We haven’t told people what we expect from them, so we can’t kick them out for not doing something we never told them was expected of them.”