If there was ever a time to be a part of the ASUO, now would be that time.
After five Senators resigned from their positions over winter break, Senate is now in the middle of a hiring process to fill the recently vacated seats.
The reasons behind former Senators Kevin Frazier, Lexi Olson, Stephanie Schie, Parker Williams and Jonathan Wu leaving the Senate vary from everything to balancing time commitments and studying abroad.
Parker Williams, the first senator to resign, left due to her commitments to her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma.
“Last year I was elected Vice President of my sorority, and with it came a lot of responsibility,” Willams said. “I haven’t been able to be as involved with Senate as I would have like, so I had to resign. There a great group of people, and I wish nothing but the best for them.
Wu can commiserate the difficulties of balancing time commitments. He left to take a heavier course of classes for the term.
“I also wanted to be able to concentrate my efforts, instead of spreading myself thin, towards my responsibilities on the Clark Honors College Student Association and the Mock Trial team,” Wu said.
Schie resigned from Senate to move to Las Vegas to accept a teaching job from Teach for America, an organization that sends teachers out to community with low academic test scores. Schie is currently finishing up her UO degree online and working full-time to pay for her moving expenses. Olson also resigned to travel, but she’s going a little further west than Schie. Olson is studying abroad in London, England during winter term.
Senate is in the middle of the hiring process right now to fill the five seats, as well as searching for a Freshman Representative. The Freshman Representative seat wasn’t vacated, rather, this is when Senate usually hires for the position.
“It’s going really well so far. As of now, we’ve interviewed nine people,” said Senator and member of the hiring process Quinn MacLean. “What we do in the hiring committee is interview all of the applicants, and then we make our recommendations to the Executive, who decide who they’ll appoint.”
According to MacLean, 15 people have applied for the six open positions. After the Executive makes their appointments, the potential new Senators will go in front of Senate where they’ll be asked various questions. If Senate is satisfied, then they’ll approve the appointment, making six students brand new ASUO Senators. The process is expected to last two or so more weeks.