Background
The A.S. Student Senate was founded over a course of the entire 2000 -
2001 academic year. However, the background of the Student Senate goes
back to a number of different bodies prior to our founding.
Many years ago, there existed an assembly called the Student
Representative Council. The SRC was charged with advising the A.S.
Board of Directors and to be the voice of the students, commuicating
student voice in the decision making process. However, over the course
of the years, the SRC eventually lost interest and faded away due to
lack of interest and internal issues.
In the late 1990’s the A.S. Board of Directors (formerly named
the A.S. Board of Control) addressed the issue of increasing student
voice in the university decision making process and the need for
another governing/advising body of students. After a few years of work,
the A.S. Board of Directors created, with the approval by general
election, the Governance Commission in 1997.
The Governance Commission consisted of 33 Commissioners. Several
Commissioners were appointed by the Deans of Western’s 6
colleges, and 3 freshman, 2 Sophomores, and 4 At Large students were
appointed by the A.S. Board of Directors. The Governance Commission was
initially created to advise the A.S. Board and charged with
communicating on behalf of the students of Western Washington
University and fill the void that the SRC had left.
However, due to the lack of interest, and difficult selection process,
the Governance Commission was never able to fulfill that mission.
“The Commission never got off the ground, it died before it was
ever started,” said Jason Adams, 2000-2001 AS VP for Academic
Affairs.
In October of 2000, Bill Hemming, AS VP for Business and Operations
founded the Student Senate. The Senate was created to increase student
participation in student and university government, and sought to do
what the Governance Commission had failed to.
In November of 2000, the Student Senate ratified its first Charge and
Charter as well as established its By Laws. Though the Governance
Commission still existed at this time, it was not a functioning
assembly. In the winter of 2001, Bill Hemming brought the issue to the
A.S. Board of Directors and asked them to place a referendum that would
effectively replace the Governance Commission with the Student Senate
on the ballot for the spring general elections. In a 4-2-1 vote, the
A.S. Board of Directors approved the measure, and the referendum passed
by a 77.82% margin that spring during the general elections.
The Student Senate had been created and was established as the primary
advising body to the A.S. Board of Directors and one of the
deliberative bodies of WWU's student government.
Over the course of the years, the Student Senate has covered a wide
scope of subjects. The Student Senate was a big part of the college
reorganization in 2002 and even participated in advising the Board of
Trustees on the split up of the College of Arts and Sciences (it is now
two colleges: College of Humanities and Social Science and the College
of Fine and Performing Arts). Today, the Student Senate remains a
dynamic assembly, evolving and changing to fit the needs of Western's
over 12,000 students. The Senate always seeks to better increase
student participation, voice, and representation at all levels of the
decision making process.
Past
Senate Chairs
Session VI 2005-2006 Chair Chiho Lai
Session V 2004-2005 Chair Karl Geisler
Session IV 2003-2004 Chair James Sanders
Session III 2002-2003 Chair Kevin Stock
Session II 2001-2002 Chair Eric Masten*
Session I 2000-2001 Chair Jake Barry
Founder Bill Hemming
Past Senator Roster can be found here.
*Session II Chair Julie Schmeichel resigned in January 2002 and Eric
Masten was elected Chair.
Senate
Timeline
November 5th 2005 – A.S. Senate Chair Chiho Lai is confirmed as
the first paid chair by the A.S. Board of Directors.
October 19th 2005 – Paid Senate Chair position is created and
approved unanimously by the A.S. Board of Directors.
October 18th 2005 – Student Senate votes to approve
official
Senate Logo.
October 19th 2005 – Paid Senate Chair position is created and
approved unanimously by the A.S. Board of Directors.
August 2005 – First A.S. Senate Chair office housed in VU 527.
May 5th 2005 - A.S. Senate Chair Karl Geisler proposes paid Senate
Chair position.
May 9th 2001 – The referendum to replace the Governance
Commission with the student Senate passes by a 77.8% majority. The
Student Senate becomes an official AS Body and the primary advisory
assembly to the Board of Directors.
October 30th 2000 – the Student Senate was founded by Bill
Hemming, as an unofficial body, first session held on October 30th,
2000.
May 1997 - A.S. Governance Commission was created by the A.S. Board of
Directors.