My name is Frank, and I used to be a senator. For the past 12 weeks, I served as a replacement senator in the Student Senate, and my term ended last Tuesday at the end of the last Senate summer session meeting.
However, this was not how I wanted my term to end.
For the past two weeks, my application to fill one of the two vacant permanent seats for my district has sat in Senate President Pro-Tempore Suzanne Hershman's box as I waited to be approved as a permanent senator, allowing me to continue to serve until the fall elections.
For the past two weeks, the seats have remained vacant, and I haven't been interviewed to fill them. One week ago, Suzanne assured me I would get an interview this week. I still have not been interviewed.
Suzanne was asked Tuesday about why the seats are still open. She said there was only one applicant (me) and that they were looking for more applicants before filling the seat. As a student senator, I attended countless committee meetings, worked with Gainesville Police Department to keep students safe and orchestrated the largest finance reform Student Senate has ever seen. I have difficulty seeing how I am less qualified than these empty seats.
It is clear to me now that "Green Means Go" cronyism is still present in UF's Student Government today, and I was merely a victim of it.
