“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Warren Bennis, one of the pioneers of the field of Leadership Studies, described this as the goal of leaders. A leader’s role is to act as a middle person. For Student Senate, it can be seen why Senators are leaders. Senators bring the student concerns to Senate, we think of ways to approach and resolve those concerns, then we act on those plans.
For those of you who do not fully understand Student Senate, we can make the visions reality in multiple ways. One way is through legislation. Two pieces of legislation we currently have on the table involve Public Safety. One of them is about getting Safe Rides to the 1030 Apartments owned by the Woods; the other is about creating a temporary parking pass for events around RTUC. The vote for these pieces of legislation will now take place on Feb. 13.
Another way Student Senate works on making visions reality is through investigation. Often times, ad hoc committees are created in order to more fully investigate the issues and possible solutions. Currently on Student Senate, we have multiple ad hoc committees in place. One of them is called the “International Inclusivity Task Force.” Here, Student Senate is investigating ways in order to help international students feel more connected with Millikin. During the last Student Senate meeting, another ad hoc committee that was created is going to look into the student complaints with the bookstore.
We also often times make changes to Student Senate to find ways to make Student Senate more functional in order to meet these goals. This is why we currently have two Constitutional Amendments to be voted on at the February 13th meeting. One of these will allow any student serve on committees within Student Senate. Another amendment will change the election process, having Exec elections in the spring and General elections in the fall.
Student Senate is always working to make students’ realities as enjoyable as possible at Millikin. We want to see students thrive and prosper during their short time here. If you have any suggestions on ways Student Senate can help, please contact myself or anyone of Senate.