During many of the meetings, Senators spend a great deal of time continuously debating the motions they are considering. While debate can be beneficial, the countless repetition of the same ideas does not make things flow smoothly. In many other cases, sidebar conversations and Senators speaking out of order affect the ability of the Senate to conduct their business in an orderly and timely fashion.

Since the year started, the Senate has closed their meetings to the press once and to the public once. By comparison, last year, the Senate closed their meetings twice during the entire year. During one of their first meetings, the Senate closed the meeting to the press for about a half-hour. They first voted to close the meeting entirely and then they allowed the President of the Interfraternity Council, Charles Centrelli, back into the meeting.

While I can’t definitively say what was discussed during the closed portion of the meeting, it did not seem to have involved greek life, but rather, the main motion read after the meeting was re-opened was one starting a committee to look into how students were able to participate in the opening events of the Biotech Center. The move seemed to have been done to just kick out the media in attendance. Just last week, the Senate made a few appointments and then unanimously closed the meeting before debating and considering the myriad of proposed by-law changes.

While I value the Senate’s ability to meet behind closed doors when the situation warrants, I also feel that it is the Senate’s responsibility to keep their meetings open in most situations and I don’t see the need for secrecy behind by-law changes or the calling of such a committee. I think it’s important that students be allowed into meetings conducted by their elected representatives. For those who choose to not attend the meetings, they should be able to find out what the Senate has been looking into through the campus media; this becomes nearly impossible, however, when the Senate closes their meetings.