In the tradition of Syllabus Week, the senators of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, UA’s undergraduate student governance body, eased back into campus life with an informal meeting to discuss their plans for the upcoming semester. 

Formal senate meetings will begin next Wednesday and will be hosted weekly in the Presidio Room of the Student Union Memorial Center at 6 p.m. 

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New Senators Wanted

During the last spring election, a number of senate seats were not contested. Instead of hosting a special election to fill these seats, ASUA has opened applications for interested students to apply for these positions. 

“As a senate, we want all our senators to be elected, but right now it is more important to provide all our colleges and students with representation in ASUA,” said Matthew Rein, ASUA executive vice president. 

Applications for senator of the College of Humanities, College of Medicine and the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences will be open on Handshake, UA’s job posting website, until Aug. 27. 

Rein hopes that with every seat in the Senate filled, some for the very first time, ASUA will be better able to engage students, clubs and organizations on campus, as well as accomplish its goals and spur interest in next spring’s elections. 

A President’s Words of Wisdom 

ASUA President Natalynn Masters addressed the Senate, offering her assistance and knowledge in helping senators to fulfill their campaign promises and start new initiatives on campus.

“Use your position of power to influence things on campus and be a voice for students,” Masters said. “There is power in students; don’t be afraid to organize and speak out on issues on campus.” 

Masters herself plans to organize a fundraiser to support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students on campus, as well as to facilitate the introduction of software to better match incoming students to clubs and organizations that might interest and engage them. 

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New Ideas Coming to the Senate

A number of new faces have come to the ASUA Senate after last spring’s election and with new faces come new ideas. 

Ashin Katwala, senator for the College of Science, wants to create a website to bring together information on free tutoring to help incoming students in the College of Science find the help they need in challenging introductory courses. 

Bennett Adamson, senator for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, is organizing an undergraduate seminar with renowned linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky, who joined the faculty of UA last year. 

Noah Huang, senator for the College of Fine Arts, hopes to build a stronger community in his college by starting a creative, collaborative forum where students can showcase their work, create partnerships and learn from each other.  

Check back to the Daily Wildcat to stay up to date on ASUA and its meetings. 

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