The Student Association Senate will have to wait at least three more weeks before senators can be appointed to replace the two who resigned earlier this semester.
The SA Student Assembly voted to postpone the approval of appointments made by SA President Christian Oliver until the next meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 18, so that Oliver may explain the reasons behind his appointments to the assembly members.
Last week, two senators, Michael Goggin and Adam Baviford, resigned after identifying conflicts of interest with other positions - Goggin is treasurer of Sub-Board I, Inc., and Baviford is a member of the SA Communications staff.
Goggin and Baviford both hold positions appointed by the president within other branches of government and, according to Oliver, voluntarily resigned after he informed them that their positions within the legislative and executive branches of the student government might jeopardize the system of checks and balances.
According to the SA constitution, in the event of a vacancy on the senate, the president appoints a replacement, which must be approved by the assembly within the next two meetings.
Oliver then appointed Gregory Haynes and Adam Haney, who both ran for senator positions in the September elections. However, Stefanie Pirowitz and Haney were the senatorial candidates who received the highest amount of votes after the 12 elected senators.
Many assembly members said that the candidates with the next highest votes should assume the vacant senate seats.
"The president is supposed to be the voice of the students, and the students spoke," said Daniel Hill, an assemblyman.
Haynes said that the approximately 400 votes cast for Goggin and Baviford might have been given to any of the other senatorial candidates, had the two been absent from the ballot.
"We don't know where these votes would have been, and those votes could have easily swayed the elections one way or the other," said Haynes.
