Join the Undergraduate Student Senate...
As a Senator:
- There are a fixed number of seats available for each college, depending on the size of that college.
- Senator terms expire at the end of every academic year.
- Senators have the power to vote for or against motions in Senate.
- Senators debate motions, sit on Committees, and communicate with school officials to address the needs of the student body, resulting in at minimum 2 hours of commitment per week to plan and facilitate operations.
- Senators can be elected through the Spring Elections, which are generally held in late February to March, or through vacancy elections, which may be held throughout the year so long as there are vacant senate seats available.
How to Become a Senator
Check if your School (CFA, Tepper, etc) has a vacancy at the top of this page.
If so, take your filled-out paper petition with at least 25 signatures from those in your school to our next General Body Meeting (GBM), which takes place on Thursdays, 5:20 - 6:30 pm, in the UC Danforth Conference Room.
Please send an email, copying both Sanjeev Naiek (senate-president@andrew.cmu.edu) and Johnny Gallick (senate-operations@andrew.cmu.edu), if you are interested in running for a vacant seat and/or have any questions.
- Vacant seat elections are held at the discretion of the President during a General Body Meeting, usually at the beginning of each semester, but may take place throughout the year as vacant seats are still available.
- Candidates are expected to attend the GBM within which the vacancy election is being held. Please send an email, copying both Sanjeev Naiek (senate-president@andrew.cmu.edu) and Johnny Gallick (senate-operations@andrew.cmu.edu) if you absolutely cannot.
- At the vacancy election, petitions are checked to ensure all signatures come undergraduates from the candidate's home school.
- All candidates are expected to give a short (1 minute) speech describing their platform (i.e. goals if elected, new initiative ideas, committee preferences...).
- After all candidates have had the opportunity to speak, current members of Senate discuss the candidates, and proceed with a vote on who to elect to fill the vacancy (or vacancies).
Re-Elections for Current Senators
- Typically in early April. Held by the Elections Board as part of the overall Student Government Elections.
- All Senator seats are up for re-election in the Spring Elections.
- For details, see the , updated for every election cycle around March