One senator’s appointment at Tuesday night’s Student Senate meeting grew into a greater discussion about academic classification.
Some senators were skeptical about appointing Brooke Liston, a 20-year-old pre-nursing sophomore with more than 60 credits, to an open nursing Senate seat.
She’s on track to apply for UF’s nursing school’s accelerated program, but she has not been accepted yet.
According to SG elections codes, a candidate’s classification is determined by the UF Registrar’s records.
Although Liston won’t know of her acceptance into the program until Spring, she is listed in the registrar as a 3NR because of her credit hours.
She is therefore eligible to be a nursing senator.
Liston, a Cicerone and a Delta Zeta (ΔΖ) sister, said she was qualified because of her membership in the Nursing Student Association.
“Just because you’re not in the College of Nursing doesn’t mean you can’t represent well,” she said after the meeting.
Out of the two candidates who applied for the seat, Sen. Davis Bean, a voting member of the Replacement and Agenda Committee, said Liston’s experience as a parliamentarian stood out.
The other candidate was a student currently in the nursing program.
Sen. Daniella Saetta, who is also in the Replacement and Agenda Committee, voted against Liston’s nomination.
Saetta’s vote was defeated 4-to-1.
“The problem here is that she was in a sorority, and the other candidate was not,” she said after the meeting.
Liston’s appointment was confirmed by the Senate.
Her term will go through Spring.
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/4/2013 under the headline "Student Senate appointment calls classification into question"
Brooke Liston a pre-nursing sophomore with more than 60 credits, is questioned by the Student Senate about her qualifications to serve as a nursing senator Tuesday.
