I’ve been a student senator since the last student government elections in spring, and one thing has been made abundantly clear in my short time in the Student Senate: the Unite Party doesn’t like being told that they’re wrong or that they’re corrupt and incompetent or even that you want to amend one of their bills to be grammatically correct.
It’s partisanship on a level of its own.
And that’s fine. Nobody likes hearing bad things about themselves. I’m just as likely to get upset by an insult as the next guy. But while I disagree with what they might have to say, I don’t cut off their ability to say it.
Because beyond being a First Amendment right granted by the Constitution, it’s common-courtesy.
For those of you not familiar with the way Student Senate works, we run our meetings using Robert’s Rules of Order. When debating a bill, any side can make the motion to “call the previous question,” which essentially cuts off all debate and moves directly into voting on a bill.
It’s the Unite Party’s favorite motion and probably the only one most of their senators know (I’ve yet to hear most of them speak, so I can’t be sure).
Now, even within Robert’s Rules, Calling the Previous Question is regarded as a highly disrespectful motion, especially if someone else still wants to speak.
But Unite Party Senator Andrew Schein takes disrespect to a completely new level when he stands up (generally during debate time) and calls the previous question only to then vote in favor of the bill. It’s a disgusting maneuver and shows how little respect he has for the 49 percent of students that voted against his party in the last election.
To further demonstrate the point, after bill presentation, questions and three full rounds of pro-con debate (the maximum allowed without a motion to extend) you’ve exhausted a maximum of 28 minutes. If his party wants to vote in favor or against a bill, we can’t stop them, but I would hope that he would at least have the goddamn respect to allow the representatives of the student body to speak on behalf of their constituents.
Their actions thus far into the summer session have been the exact opposite of their promises to increase communication and transparency.
I just wish they’d have the decency to stop being so intellectually dishonest about their views and actually say they don’t care about what anyone has to say.
Max Stein Students, Party Senator
and Michael Morales, Former Senator
