MSA senators resign amid feeling of irrelevance

The three resigning senators have different reasons for stepping down.

By Kaylen Ralph

Published Jan. 26, 2010

Since the start of this semester, three Missouri Students Association senators have resigned from their positions, Senate Speaker Amanda Shelton said.

Those who resigned cited different reasons for their decisions, and turnover is not a new phenomenon to hit the legislative branch of MSA.

"It's a thing about managing priorities," ex-Senator Maxwell Holter said. "I wouldn't have left if I didn't have to."

Holter said he still plans to work on campus dining issues.

"To be fair, turnover is a fairly normal thing," said Abhi Sivasailam, Campus Dining Issues Ad-Hoc Committee chairman and soon-to-be ex-MSA Senator. "The only thing unique about this particular scenario is that the turnover was so concentrated. There's really nothing shocking about this within Senate."

Sivasailam still plans to maintain his position as Ad-Hoc Committee chairman and to still be involved in MSA, but in a different capacity.

"One of the reasons I'm leaving Senate is not from discontent but because I want to work with MSA from an outsider's perspective," Sivasailam said. "I think right now my time is best spent working as a student advocate among different channels. I'm just not going to be going to weekly meetings."

Ex-Senator Sheela Lal submitted her resignation to Shelton last week for different reasons.

"Senate itself on Wednesday became the biggest waste of time, people sit there and the same people are always the ones who talk just to hear themselves talk," Lal said. "It's basically a spoils system, which is a problem. They don't really give you an opportunity to move up in the group. It's very separated, us and you."

Lal said she was putting a lot of time into an organization in which people were wasting the time she invested.

"There were so many stupid internal bills that didn't do anything," Lal said. "We've had approximately one external bill. It's like why are you calling yourself the student government when you're focusing on yourself, not the students?"

Shelton said she is saddened to lose a member under these circumstances, and the Senate already has many external-related projects starting this week.

"MSA and student government is really what you put into it," Shelton said in an e-mail. "While we do have an adviser, we do not have our direction planned for us; rather it is individuals' interests and work ethics that drive our progress. As a result, it is regrettable that Sheela did not pursue a project or piece of legislation, offer to speak on legislation at the full meetings, or get involved in a joint project to be a part of the work she wanted to see completed."

Operations Committee Chairman Evan Wood said he too was dissatisfied with the job Senate did last semester. He is working with Sivasailam and past Operations Committee Chairman Josh Travis to put together a report in which they hope to outline MSA's relevancy.

"There are some concerns among MSA senators about the relevance of MSA," Sivasailam said. "The three of us are currently working on a report that addresses MSA relevance and makes MSA more accountable to the student body. We're drafting a report, to be released soon, to fix some of the problems in Senate and to make MSA more appealing and relevant."

Wood said his primary role regarding the report would be its implementation in his capacity as Operations Chairman and a byproduct of the report could be a decrease in turnover. He expects to present the report with Sivasailam and Travis during the open forum segment of the full Senate session in two weeks.

"The main thing we want to address is that really no one in MSA right now really has a sense that they are directly influencing the student body in the way a student government should be," Wood said. "When you start cutting back from obligations, you might cut first an organization in which you don't really feel like you're a big part of it."