During two of his office hours held Thursday, ASUO Sen. Max Barkley wrote a one-page poetry essay while managing the other scattered tasks that make up part of his daily life as a senator.
“I love poetry, because it makes you slow down,” Barkley said. “Every single word matters.”
While Barkley read a poem and analyzed it for class, the other Senate responsibilities remained, including looking over special requests and discussion about the possibility for a first-year student to become a non-voting member of Senate.
Barkley said he appreciates the opportunity this job has created for him, which is why he is pushing so hard for a first-year student to have that opportunity.
“It’s cool, because I learn about a lot of stuff. I’m like here, opened up to this portal … dealing with a multitude of issues,” he said. “You learn so much, it’s insane. Hopefully (a freshman senate member) will be in the system soon. I’m really excited for that.”
Barkley is one of the 17 current ASUO senators. Since three senators resigned from the original, full 20-person body, and ASUO Senate denied ASUO executive’s two proposed candidates in consecutive weeks, a larger discussion began about just what it takes to be an ASUO senator.
Sen. Ian Fielding cited availability and passion in his reasons for voting for an appointee.
“I mean, a lot of senators feel this way,” Fielding said. “Not only having the availability, but being OK with working long hours with not a lot of pay.”
Each ASUO senator receives a stipend of at least $150 per month. Chairs and vice-chairs of finance committees make incrementally more, where the ASUO Senate vice chair’s and ombudsperson’s stipends are $200 per month and the Senate chair’s is $225 per month. The chair, vice chair and ombudsperson are ASUO senators nominated and elected by their peers. Since they hold more office hours and are responsible for additional tasks, those who hold elected positions within ASUO Senate earn higher stipends than other senators.
Fielding also cited relevant leadership experience and understanding what the job of senator entails by attending a meeting prior to applying for a position.
Sen. Laura Hinman also talked about passion, but mentioned it in reference to the duty senators have to their constituents. She used the example of her role on the Programs Finance Committee.
“As far as PFC is concerned, you can’t just do what the (Green Tape Notebook) says; you can’t just meet with programs once,” Hinman said. “You need to have viewpoint neutrality when you’re allocating money, and do it case by case. You can’t know that unless you know them personally.”
Hinman said her three primary concerns in a new senator include being interested, caring about constituents and being knowledgeable about the position.
“When I was appointed my freshman year, I was prepared. It’s OK to not answer a question, to not try is not good,” she said. “Knowledge of your duties, so we know you’ll do your due diligence.”
Additionally, prior to an ASUO Senate rule change which was unanimously approved on Oct. 27, office hours could be confusing at the very least and demanding at most. In this system, the Senate chair, assuming they also held a leadership role in a finance committee as well, could be expected upwards of 10 office hours per week, because senators were unsure how office hours stacked on top of each other.
Now each senator is expected to spend at least three hours, but no more than seven hours, per week at office hours. But the Green Tape Notebook, the ASUO’s governing document, said that only one of those hours each week needs to be spent in the office.
Toward the end of his office hours, Barkley nearly wrapped up his poetry essay. He met with PFC chair Noah Wolf-Prusan to discuss a future concert, which is being designed to increase general student awareness of ASUO-related activities. As a member of the Senate’s outreach committee, this is one task he will be working on for the next two terms outside of office hours and Senate meetings.
“I work my ass off. We like the burnout though; we know we have this unholy task (before us),” Barkley said. “Burnout does happen, but we can prevent it with time management. We’re all kids, we still need to have fun.”
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