This evening at the ASUW Student Senate meeting, the senate will conduct a vote of confidence to decide whether Senate Chair Hala Dillsi and Senate Vice Chair Mikhail Smirnov should retain their respective positions.

The vote of confidence has raised a lot of hairs on the Student Senate floor, but the majority of the student body has little knowledge of the recent proceedings.

“I don’t know anything about the subject,” said senior Ann Jensen. “You could say I am completely apathetic when it comes to concern about student politics. … this has no bearing on the real world.”

The majority of people asked to comment on this topic passed it up, saying they didn’t know enough about the Student Senate or the recent news to comment.

“From what I’ve read — and I didn’t read a whole lot — the people they’re voting on were in high positions,” said sophomore Samantha Smith. “If they’re not doing a good job it’s harder for the whole system to work. If they’re doing OK, I don’t see what the problem is.”

Some students feel the senate should use its time more wisely.

“I think that this is probably not most productive thing the Student Senate should be focused on at this school,” said junior Daniel Blue. “They should be focused on other issues, such as quorum and what else they’re doing, instead of focusing on what the leadership is doing.”

Senior Sara Giba, who said she knows Dillsi through interactions with her, said the vote is surprising.

“I can’t imagine that she would be an incompetent person,” Giba said. “I think whatever is going on is probably just a misunderstanding. She is definitely not the kind of person to not take her responsibilities seriously. So I have every confidence that she’s doing what she needs to be doing.”

Giba pointed out that Dillsi has held positions in ASUW before this year.

“I don’t think she would have been elected again if she hadn’t been doing it right the first time,” Giba said.

Senior commuter senator Sameer Kanal said the senate has historically had little involvement from outside parties, but efforts have been made recently to include more people in the senate’s work.

“There has definitely been a push to get more people involved,” Kanal said. “We’re doing a better job at it, and it’s a lot of work to get a 40,000-person campus to get involved with a group that has 70 employees right now.”

For student senators who are involved in the proceedings, the vote of confidence can be seen as both a positive and a negative.

“We’re just getting distracted,” said commuter senator Alex Lark. “We really should be focusing on doing something to improve student life, but we’re getting distracted from it.”

Where the vote will take the senate remains to be seen.

“On Tuesday we will be hearing out the arguments, and at that point, we will vote,” Kanal said. “There are a lot of options, too. There was an act to censure both of them as well, which is kind of a formal reprimand. I’m not really sure what is going to happen with the vote of confidence.”

A censure is essentially a collective statement of disapproval as opposed to a complete removal from office. Ehsan Aleaziz, an RHSA at-large senator, proposed the censure.

“If a censure passes, it amounts to an official declaration by the Student Senate that it disapproves of the actions taken by the chair and vice chair,” Aleaziz said. “It doesn’t remove either from office or in any practical way inhibit or alter their offices.”

The censure has been approved to be on the agenda before the votes of confidence.

Although the topic may be negative, Kanal said this issue could encourage student involvement in the senate.

“Students should take the opportunity to find out what’s happening, show up and get involved,” he said.

A PUBLIC FORUM

Below, The Daily excerpts portions from a discussion board on the ASUW Student Senate’s Web site: senate.asuw.org/forum/phpBB2/index.php under “miscellaneous discussion.” Comments have been taken directly, and no changes have been made to grammar or spelling.

“There is no motion more serious, no motion requiring greater caution, than the vote of confidence. It is truly the motion of last resort, when EVERY other mechanism has failed…”

–— Karl

“Some people may have stood to remove Hala due to personal vendettas. But some people stood to hear out the arguments.”

— Sameer K. Kanal

“Don’t try to discredit what other people are saying simply because they are on friendly terms with one of the officers in question. Every opinion is still valid and ought to be considered on its own merit, not on whether the commentator is impartial in the debate, because many of us aren’t.”

— seadler

“Last night a group of senators sought to send a message to the senate leadership. Our message is simple: no one, not even the senate officers are above the rules and by-laws that we have established and agreed to abide by. In calling for a vote of confidence a group of senators has created a place for dialogue about the way that senate leadership presides over meetings.”

— Shiggy

“The question that we should all be asking ourselves is what is more important to us as individual senators and as a unified body; is it to represent our constituents by debating and considering legislation in a reasonable manor of time? Or is it to constantly quable and play the he-said, she-said game which we have been engaging in week after week? … My personal opinion is that it is more important for senate to actually get things done than to engage in an entire process of voting and possibly newly appointing officers. In addition, I do not beleive that such a severe measure as a vote of confidence should be taken when it would have been wise to engage in other measures first.”

— Salilm

Reach reporter James Schleicher at news@thedaily.washington.edu.