The Government of the Student Body had its last meeting of the academic session last week.

Brian Phillips, GSB president and junior in political science, said the reason GSB elections and inaugurations take place in the spring is to help with the transition for new members. This allows incoming senators to talk with former senators about their positions.

“It gives us time to go over transition materials, meet all the people that we need to meet for our positions and put together staffs,” Phillips said.

Adam Krupicka, GSB speaker and graduate student in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, said the current system gives an opportunity for transition and for new members to learn the system.

If the seating of the new members were delayed, it could cause problems.

“I think it would take twice as long to get the system figured out, especially with the number of seniors graduating,” he said.

Krupicka said there isn’t really an alternative to beginning the new senate at another time and that holding it off until the fall would not be as effective, since outgoing members may have graduated.

“I don’t think there’s a substitute for being in an actual meeting and being able to evaluate actual legislation,” he said.

Phillips said the first session gives GSB an opportunity to take care of smaller things, such as budget carryover requests and funding transfers.

“It does give us the advantage of letting us tie up loose ends from the previous year,” he said.

Phillips said there are some disadvantages to this, as well. There are only two meetings that make up the first session of the new senate, which are held before the end of the spring semester. Phillips said the first session is usually not as productive as the rest of the year.

“It does put people in there pretty quickly, so you’ve got to make sure that you prep the people who are going to be holding the offices beforehand,” he said.

Meeting before the end of the spring semester gives GSB a chance to recognize “strengths and weaknesses” and address them over the summer, Phillips said. Senators that are seated in the fall that are willing to learn their responsibilities don’t fall behind as much.

“Some of the best people we have were appointed halfway through,” he said.

For new senators in the fall, Krupicka said the new meetings can be confusing, but that senators have the opportunity to learn what is going on.

Krupicka said they receive training and get help from experienced senators.

According to the GSB constitution, GSB senators must be a member of the constituency they represent. For example, an individual elected to represent the Inter-Residence Hall Association must live in a residence hall. However, if that individual were to move off campus in the fall, he or she would no longer be eligible to sit on the senate representing IRHA.

“That is an issue; it’s happened a couple times,” Phillips said. “It has affected some people in the past, but for the most part it’s worked out.”

Members can also be elected in the spring that will not be around in the fall. Phillips said he did this last year because he wanted to finish some things before he left on a study abroad program during the fall semester.

“I ran a write-in campaign in such a way that if someone really wanted the seat, they could have beaten me,” he said.

Phillips said the problem with doing this is that the person elected will have to be replaced in the fall. In his case, he found a replacement and recommended that person before he left for the fall.

Phillips said he has no power to change the way it is run now, but he likes the current system because it gives a chance for new senators to learn how things are done.

“Personally I think it’s good the way that we do it because of that transition time,” he said.

Krupicka said he would always be open to “evaluation” of the system but doesn’t see a problem with the current system.

“I like the system; I think it works very well,” he said.