Connecting with constituents is a crucial aspect of politicians’ lives. You see this when politicians shake hands with community members or kiss babies’ heads. However, politicians should not lose the respect of their constituents in their quests to connect with them. They must strike a balance between professionalism and approachability in order to be the most effective politicians.

At last Wednesday’s Government of the Student Body senate meeting, GSB Vice President Katie Brown suggested wearing Halloween costumes at the Oct. 31 meeting.

While wearing costumes might improve the senators’ approachability, there is a risk it also may cause some constituents to lose respect in their senators, which is particularly troublesome when considering how far GSB senators have come in connecting with their constituents whilst improving GSB’s reputation as a whole in the past year.

One improvement GSB has made recently is live tweeting senate meetings, which improves GSB’s transparency without causing the organization to lose the respect of its constituents. In fact, live tweeting shows how GSB is tuned in to the needs of the student body, a mark of dedication and professionalism.

Furthermore, the “Making GSB Accountable and Transparent” bill proposed at the Sept. 12 GSB Senate meeting also shows GSB senators’ dedication in improving their communication with the people they represent.

The bill states all GSB activities should be made available to the public in documents, video and audio. Also, the bill states the GSB website must be up to date, which it currently is not. Having an up-to-date website with important GSB information on it increases the professionalism of GSB and helps students’ feel more connected to their senators.

While GSB has made strides in improving its transparency and reputation, there is still room for improvement.

For instance, the way some senators dress at GSB senate meetings is not appropriate and hurts the perception people have toward both them and GSB. Dressing like a college student because senators represent college students is a flawed philosophy and does little to improve a senator’s approachability. As a senator, students must show professionalism in both speech and appearance.

When a senator wears sweatpants, a baseball cap, a flannel shirt or other casual attire, the words the senator speaks will be diminished by what clothes he or she wears.

This is no different than when a student shows up at a career fair in casual attire. An employer will judge a student’s professionalism in all aspects of life if he or she chooses to dress unprofessionally. The same is true for constituents seeing GSB senators wearing casual attire to senate meetings.

Similarly, wearing Halloween costumes to a GSB senate meeting is not appropriate and hurts the public perception of GSB senators, even if they dress in costumes for just one night.

Instead of attempting to improve their approachability by wearing costumes, senators should continue to connect to their constituents in professional ways, as they have been doing recently.