Speaker Chris Sgro resigned this week as leader of the Undergraduate Senate after telling members he could no longer serve a body that has been overtaken by senators "playing politics."
The Undergraduate Senate unanimously elected Ben Murray, a junior in the School of Public Affairs and School of International Service, to fill the empty position. Murray is the current Director of Information Technology and was the Class of 2007 representative in the former General Assembly.
Former Speaker Sgro addressed members of the Senate saying that he has tried to make the Senate a viable organization with his leadership. "Too many Senators have taken a different course, though. They focus on procedure, pomp and ego-inflation rather than what's important to students. These are the focuses which force the student body at-large to look at the Senate with cynicism," Sgro said.
School of Public Affairs Senator Elliot Friedman responded to former Speaker Sgro's resignation by saying "I believe that it is a good day for the Senate, I believe we will operate better as a whole."
Class of 2008 Senator Charlie Biscotto echoed Friedman's words.
"I think the speech he made and sent to the Senate lacked the professionalism that should have accompanied the situation," he said. "His desire to name names as to whom he liked and who he didn't was immature, and conveyed his own personal vendettas more than anything else."
Senators differed in sentiments regarding Sgro's resignation, while some blatantly criticized the former speaker; others voiced their appreciation for his service and leadership.
Class of 2006 Senator Rob Boisseau commended Sgro.
"I sincerely wished he had stayed, but at the same time he realized that the integrity of his office and the integrity of the senate were essentially more than important than proving the charges against him for fraudulent," he said.
Student Government Secretary Joe Vidulich said that "Chris had a passion to serve the AU students and work to better this institution. The Senate, the Student Government, and AU owe him a great debt of gratitude."
After being confirmed Sunday, Murray addressed the Senate saying he looked forward to building relationships with members of the Senate, and thinks the body has great potential to be an outlet for change.
"I didn't do this because I wanted to be Speaker, I did this because I think that the Senate has a lot of potential to do good, and as an outsider who used to be an insider, essentially I was in an unique position to fill the void with the qualities that are required to get things done," Murray said.
Murray is optimistic about the future of the Senate.
"There is a lot of potential with what (currently) exists, you just need to have someone that can bring out those potentials, and I hope to be able to do that," he said.
Senator At-Large Josh Cahan said he believes that the election of a new speaker is a positive change for the Senate saying that Murray will be a motivation for members of the body to better serve their constituents
SG President Kyle Taylor spoke to members of the Student Government following Sgro's resignation.
"We all have to fight for relevance, on a campus where less than 50 percent of the students think we're doing our job," he said.
Secretary Vidulich agreed with Taylor.
"The SG has done a lot of good this year and we still have a lot more work to do, we just need to focus on the issues and not ourselves"
