[330] in UA Senate
Senate Attendance
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim Stumbaugh)
Fri Dec 4 16:42:35 2009
Date: Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:42:31 -0500
From: Tim Stumbaugh <ua-vicechair@MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: ua-senate-attendance@MIT.EDU
To: UA Senate <ua-senate@mit.edu>
Hi all,
We would like to take this opportunity to clarify our attendance policy for Senators. The bylaws state:
> Representatives of the UA Senate may not have more than two consecutive absences or three
> absences in a given academic term from any regularly scheduled Senate meetings. Representatives
> should send a proxy as per Article IV, Section 1, or in failing that, request an excuse from the
> Speaker.
Paul and I have been pretty understanding in excusing Senators, but it is our responsibility to make
sure that all constituencies are fully represented. You all are senators because your living group
wants all the representation that they are entitled to, so even if your constituency has multiple
representatives, we expect that *all* of the representatives (or proxies) are present, barring
unforeseen circumstances.
For example, it is unfair for us to excuse Senators who feel that they have too much work that week
to come to Senate, since we are all MIT students with many academic responsibilities. Senate, like
other commitments, is something that you should plan for each week. Failing that, you should be able
to find a proxy in order to ensure that your constituency is still fully represented.
We will no longer be excusing absences if the circumstances are foreseen. This includes things such
as group projects or review sessions. As always, you are excused if you send a proxy from your
living group (and let us know about it advance). Also, "being hosed" is not an acceptable excuse.
We apologize for having to be this strict about the rules, but the increasing number of questionable
excuses and lack of proxies put us in this situation. If you have any questions about your
individual attendance, consult the spreadsheet at http://web.mit.edu/ua/minutes/UAS41/attendance.pdf.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us by replying to this
email.
Best-
--
-Tim Stumbaugh '12, Paul Baranay '11 and Liz Denys '11
for UA Senate Attendance
