Spring semester entails many changes for students, including a newly-elected president pro tempore of the ASUI Senate.
Senate elected former ASUI Sen. Rachael Miller as the spring 2016 pro tempore at last week”s Wednesday meeting.
As pro tempore, Miller will assist ASUI Vice President Stetson Holman in running the ASUI senate.
Miller, who has been an ASUI senator for a year and a half, is currently a junior double-majoring in political science and public relations. Though Miller said she has enjoyed her time as an ASUI senator, she said she felt ready to take on the new challenge.
“I think I”m very organized, efficient, responsible,” Miller said. “This position just came up at the right time.”
She said her nomination to be pro tempore came from her fall 2015 senate running-mate, Sen. Cruz Botello. Sen. Zachary Spence ran against her. Each candidate was given two minutes to speak, and the senate then debated before casting the vote.
“It was heart-warming to hear that people wanted me in the position,” Miller said.
Though Miller said she had support from her fellow senators, she was still nervous as they tallied the votes in front of everyone.
Once the votes were counted, Miller said she switched chairs with Kate Ricart, the fall 2015 pro tempore, and immediately took over the reigns.
“I feel like I”m a good leader,” Miller said. “I have some ideas of things we could do to promote some of the projects we”re working on in ASUI.”
Miller said a large portion of the pro tempore position is designated for managerial responsibilities, such as making sure senators attend their office hours, show up to committee hearings and handling discipline and impeachment processes.
Miller said she is also in charge of the Ways and Means Committee that votes on all resolutions, which are essentially statements on behalf of the entire student body. She said in the past, ASUI has passed resolutions addressing national issues, and sent resolutions to the state legislature and campus administrators.
Since the election, Miller said she has generally been in charge of administrative tasks, but she has many plans for the future of ASUI.
“We”re going to be going over ASUI rules and regulations with a fine-tooth comb to make sure everything is up-to-date,” Miller said. “I”m working with the ASUI Policy Team on that so by the end of the semester we will have a new bill that rethinks rules and regulations.”
Miller said she also plans to interact with UI colleges to secure ASUI redistricting.
“I just want to get a much more efficient senate as well as a collaborative ASUI,” Miller said.
Miller said she hopes to strengthen the presence of ASUI on campus by working with other UI organizations, such as the Sustainability Center and the Women”s Center.
“I”d love to coordinate more with executives and coordinate with Faculty Senate to get everyone on the same page so we can make bold statements to the administration,” Miller said.
Jessica Gee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JessicaC_Gee