MSU Student Association Vice President Lee Weiskopf should be commended for sticking to his word and holding senators accountable.
Recently, the SA removed two senators for unexcused absences. The rule says if a senator has more than one unexcused absence at a meeting, he or she will be removed. Weiskopf also gave the senators 24 hours to appeal the decision, but they didn’t make an attempt.
Senators skipping meetings was a big problem last semester. Many senators left a meeting early before former SA President Jon David Cole gave his State of the SA address. Cole had to reschedule the speech.
We understand that students get sick, but they can present doctors’ excuses to Weiskopf if they can’t make a meeting. Since the students didn’t do this, Weiskopf made the right choice in dismissing them from the Senate. Because both dismissed senators are freshmen, they’ll have the opportunity to participate in the SA in the future.
Weiskopf’s recent actions help to defeat the stereotype of the SA not doing anything about problems. In the past, the Senate has been relatively inactive. However, this semester the Senate is tackling many issues, such as teacher evaluations and academic forgiveness.
Senators should keep in mind that the way they serve MSU students will affect their credibility in the future, especially if they wish to have political careers.
Hopefully, the Senate will continue to serve students more than have in the past. With Weiskopf keeping senators in check, we think this will be more likely.
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Jed Pressgrove, news editor C.J. LeMaster, assistant news editor Nathan Gregory, entertainment editor Aaron Burdette, sports editor R.J. Morgan, online editor Sara McAdory, photo editor Jay Webb, managing editor Ross Dellenger and editor in chief Tyler Stewart.