About Student Senate
Structure of Student Senate
Student Senate is a wide ranging organization with a lot of different titles, bodies, and processes. As such, it can be difficult for people who are involved in Student Senate to figure out exactly who is responsible for what, and even harder for those looking to get involved to figure out what is going on. This short guide is designed to quickly give you an idea of what the structure of Student Senate is and a better understanding of the function of everyone within senate.
Student Senate, like the federal government, is divided into three branches, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The largest of these three is the legislative branch.
Before we continue it is useful to note that the title for all of the student government at KU is called Student Senate. This can be confusing because, as you will see, within the legislative branch there is also a senate. It may help you to think of Student Senate as simply Student Government – or the title given to all student governance at the University of Kansas.
The Legislative Branch
Although Student Senate is divided up into three branches, the majority of people who get involved with Student Senate spend their time operating within the Legislative branch. The legislative branch is by far the largest and the bulk of what goes on in senate is done by the legislative branch.
Within the legislative branch there are three entities: Senate, Committees and Boards. The jobs of committees and senate are to work to review, debate, and vote on legislation. As the main bodies of the legislative process (it is through legislation that Student Senate takes action) everything that the committees and senate do is framed by the legislation that the Senators generate. Because of this, Committees and Senate have a very broad role and throughout the year will discuss a very wide variety of topics.
Committees can be joined by anyone at any time. When you attend a committee for the first time you can ask questions and debate, but you cannot vote. However, once you come back to that committee you are considered to have joined that committee and you have voting power and are any like any other committee member. If you are interested in becoming a Student Senator, then the best way to do that is to become active in a committee, begin to learn more about Student Senate and then look for opportunities to either get a replacement seat or run with a coalition in the spring.
The last entity within the Legislative Branch is the boards. The major difference between boards and Committees or Senate is that they have a very specific and narrow role that they fulfill in Student Senate and University governance. For example, the Safety Advisory Board deals exclusively with campus safety issues and has a budget that can only be spent in improving the safety of campus.
Because of their technical nature, the requirements for joining boards vary. If you are interested in joining a board, then e-mail the Student Body president (Mason Heilman, mennis@ku.edu) and explain what board you would like to join, why you would like to join it, and list any qualifications you have. Appointments to boards are made on a case by case basis. (For a list of Student Senate Boards, click here.)
The Executive Branch
The other two branches of Student Senate, the executive and the judicial branches, are much smaller than the legislative branch and, when compared with the legislative branch, have relatively narrow and specialized roles. (One reason why student government at KU is simply referred to as “Student Senate”).
The executive branch consists of the Student Body President, Vice President, and the 8 members of their executive staff. The executive staff is picked by the student body president and vice president and confirmed by the Senate. The positions of the executive staff are the Student Executive Committee Chair, the Treasurer, the assistant Treasurer, the Executive Secretary, the Communications Director, the Technology & Advertising Director, the Student Legislative Awareness Board Director and the Community Affairs Director. After being selected and confirmed to serve in an executive staff role, students are members of the executive staff for 12 months. The selection and confirmation process for the new executive staff takes place every year at the end of April, after the Student Senate elections. You can read more about the responsibilities of the President, Vice President and their executive staff here.
The Judicial Branch
Starting its first year as a part of student government, the Judicial Branch is the smallest branch. Consisting of 4 Judges and 1 Chief Justice, the Judicial Branch hears suspension appeals, has the power to put groups on probation, and has the power of judicial review. Meaning, if Senate passes legislation that is possibly contrary to the rules and regulations of Student Senate, that legislation may be brought before the Judicial board and, if it indeed found to be contrary to the regulations of student senate, voided.
Once a student is appointed to serve as a Judge or Chief Justice, that student retains his or her seat for the entire duration of his or her time as a Student at the University of Kansas. The selection process for becoming a Judge or Chief Justice is currently ongoing, if you would like to apply to serve then you can start the process by e-mailing Matthew Shaw (mattshaw@ku.edu).