More Post-Election Thoughts, Pt. 1
The Nitty-Gritty

With all due respect to Andy, his post election thoughts were pretty easy set-ups. I’m going to try to make some more substantial claims and predictions. Also, I apologize in advance for the length of this post… I’ve been thinking about this a lot the last couple of days.

(I am going to leave analysis of the Execs out of this post… I have some qualms about who got elected where, but the post will be long enough as it was, and I’m trying to balance my personal and professional friendships with some of these people with my ability to honestly express how I feel the state of the Association is next year.)

Statistical Breakdown of the Senate:

8 SA
7 CS
3 Indies
1 SQUELCH!
1 DAAP

4 Jews
4 Asian Christians (and only one of them is SA… right now…)
8 Greeks

14 Men
6 Women (4 from CalSERVE, 1 from DAAP, 1 from SA)
(down from 12 - 8 from last year's Senate)

0 Openly LGBT Senators (down from two last year... and, to add insult to injury, our own Andy Ratto was the closest to being elected)

This year’s Senate is remarkably different than last year’s, with no clear majority and a 1/4 "independent/small party" senators, but may end up being stereotypical. All three Indies are all former SA people, and Billy Wang could eventually lead them, but where? My guess says closer to SA than CalSERVE, simply because the groups have more in common, and the summer will partially heal some of the wounds from the petty fighting. CalSERVE has enough votes to block vote against any major bill, but will they abuse the privilege? Maybe not a lot, but enough to make meetings longer than last year.

I’m not optimistic for this Senate, given its stereotypical makeup and its chair, to have the success it would need to shake the petty bickering, inefficiency, and behavior that has characterized it for the last few years.

Next post discussing politics, and the future of the ASUC in my eyes.Email This Post!