Shelton to succeed Mays as Senate speaker

Senate Operations Chairwoman Amanda Shelton will be sworn in March 11.

By Amanda Wysocki

Published Feb. 27, 2009

Missouri Students Association Operations Committee Chairwoman Amanda Shelton will succeed Jonathan Mays as Senate speaker.

The elections were held Wednesday night at the full Senate meeting, and Shelton won 30-2 against Academic Affairs Committee Vice Chairman Ian Krause.

Shelton said she would serve as a facilitator for the day-to-day workings of Senate, liaison with different associations and advocate for the student body.

"MSA underestimates its ability to make lasting change on campus," Shelton said.

She believes the key to MSA's success is its strong legislative branch. She also said that it's time to start planning for the long-term.

"In the next few weeks, we need to sit down and talk about what sort of work we want to leave behind," Shelton said. "We need to discuss what kind of Web site and resources to leave for the next generation of student leaders. It's a long-term planning process that begins today."

MSA Operations Committee Vice Chairman Josh Travis and MSA Senator Garrett Bergquist both spoke on behalf of Shelton. Bergquist is a former member of The Maneater staff.

Travis said Shelton's vision matches the path MSA should take.

"Her leadership will definitely be of great asset to this Senate and the student body," Travis said. "I honestly and sincerely believe she would be an excellent speaker and will take us in the right direction."

Krause has served on MSA for six semesters in both Academic Affairs and the Board of Elections Commissioners.

"We have turned obstacles into triumphs, but more can still be done for the Senate and the student body," Krause said.

Krause's platform included reforming the approval process for committee heads, establishing a scholarship for outstanding senators and purchasing a helium blimp to advertise Senate elections.

Krause said he feels committees should be allowed to approve the committee's potential new chairperson before it reaches the Senate floor, particularly if the person has not been affiliated with MSA in the past.

The scholarship Krause wanted to establish would be funded through reserve funds from the MSA budget. The requirements would include having served one year as a senator and submitted six pieces of meaningful legislation.

During the questioning of the nominees, Senator Phyllis Williams asked both candidates if they would be willing to promote legislation to take some power away from the Operations Committee and spread it to other committees, specifically extending oversight to the Budget Committee.

"I think looking at different work that all committees do is absolutely vital," Shelton said. "I'm not sure what to do specifically with looking at changing duties of certain committees in power sharing, but more dialogue is needed."

During Shelton's speech, she publicly thanked Mays and called for a round of applause for all his hard work as Senate speaker.

"He has the ability to help people mature to leadership positions that they didn't know they could achieve," Shelton said.

Mays has served as senate speaker for two years. In that time, he has helped to get a state law passed on textbook pricing and revision history disclosure, get the budget on track for the first overall student fee decrease in 30 years and start an MSA joint meeting with the Residence Halls Association and Legion of Black Collegians.

"We started that a little over a year ago after those three groups had co-existed for almost 40 years," Mays said. "We have even incorporated graduate students, which is pretty exciting."

Mays will be leaving for Japan in a few weeks to spend a semester as an exchange student.

"I'm not falling off the face of the earth, just this half of it," Mays said.