Propose Election Changes for Kansas University Senate

Election Changes

Kansas University Student Senate Rules and Regulations is the most important document of the student community in this University, and in all universities that have and most of all stick to such a document. It provides the framework in which students can learn and exchange experiences and ideas holding true principles like respect for race, religion, gender, social status or any of physical or mental disability.

In what regards the electoral system of the Student Senate, the procedure in place, according to the document aforementioned (University of Kansas, Student Senate Rules and Regulations, Revised 2010), there are several steps and methods in promoting a candidate and voting. As any document is perfectible several proposals could be done in order to ensure a more fair and equitable democratic process in three areas: apportionment, the electoral system per se, and administrative issues.

Regarding apportionment, the distribution of seats in the Students' Senate seems fair, as all schools are represented in the forum. What seems to be in contradiction to the electoral system of fair distribution is the fact that students that are eligible to the part of the Student Senate can also be appointed, rather then elected as in the case of the 1 representative from various organizations. Letter H, Article II, point 2.1.2. (University of Kansas, Student Senate Rules and Regulations, Revised 2010,-page 2) states that all representatives from various groups are elected or appointed by those groups. Although it would require more time and more commitment to the electoral process, changing to " all representatives are elected by those groups" would lead towards an undisputed electoral system and complete apportionment in the Students' Senate membership.

Another proposal to the electoral system goes in the electoral campaign issue. Currently, an active table campaign refers to "the process of promotion and distribution of campaign paraphernalia from people stationed at tables on campus (…) and from individuals away from these tables." (University of Kansas, Student Senate Rules and Regulations, Revised 2010,-page 53) and takes place on the Monday and Tuesday prior to the two elections days and the Wednesday and Thursday of elections. The suggestions goes towards extending these active table campaigning during the last 3 days of the passive table campaigning to ensure a fair and better visibility to candidates and offer individual promotion and distribution of campaign flyers.

Another proposal goes towards the costs of the electoral campaign that each candidate has. There can be cases when funding does not come from sources of trust and therefore such a measure would ensure transparency of the entire process. Change is critically important to any system and usually is accepted and put into practice after long negotiations. An electoral system's change, of any sort, "has a great effect on the type of the system which results, its appropriateness for the political situation, and the degree of legitimacy and popular support it will ultimately enjoy." (Reynolds, 2005,-page 5). Therefore, any change to this electoral process must not only be put into practice by the Governing Body but should also receive support from the community, in this case the students.