The Senate chambers were relaxed Tuesday night until a heated public debate regarding the recent formation of a new party was addressed.
Former Access Sen. Chris Boyett spoke during public debate about his decision to form Impact Party. He said he had been thinking about switching for a long time.
This is the third political party Boyett has affiliated with during his time as a UF student senator.
In Fall 2012, he ran to be a Hume Area Swamp senator but lost to Students Party candidate Steven Elkington. Last Spring, he ran for a Liberal Arts and Sciences seat under Access and won. He was inactive during summer.
Now, this semester, he is an independent senator running with Impact along with a former Access Senator, Saneh Ste. Claire (Independent, CLAS). They are currently the only members of Impact Party to come from Access. Boyett said he thinks this will change.
His allegiance is to the students, not a party, Boyett said.
“My loyalty will never lie with any party,” he said. “I hope you will see Impact Party as others see it, as a way to move students forward.”
He said his decision to form Impact came after he saw past trends in Senate repeating.
“I started seeing trends in Access Party that I saw in Swamp Party,” Boyett said. “It was the same game, just different players.”
Sen. Ste. Claire and Sen. Jason Richards (as of press time Swamp) also spoke on behalf of Impact. Ste. Claire said she saw one sidedness and retaliation grow as time went on.
“We can either accept these conditions as they are or work to include people,” Ste. Claire said.
Richards said he’s looking forward to working with senators on both sides of the aisle.
“It’s time to change what’s been happening,” he said.
Minority party leader Michael Christ (Access, Graduate) disagrees. He said none of his party members are planning on switching. As of press time, the number of senators who are planning on switching party affiliation has not been confirmed.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
Chris Boyett speaks during the Student Senate meeting Sept. 1, 2015.
