A bill that for the 2007 election ballot would reshape the size of the senate was voted down 5 to 26 at the Government of the Student Body meeting Wednesday.

The bill would have asked students to vote to reduce the size of the senate to one senator to represent every 2,000 students, and each college and residential area would have a minimum of one senator per constituency area.

Brandon Gray, liberal arts and sciences senator and senior in journalism and mass communication, said there would be many benefits to reducing the size of the senate.

“Too many people leads to less action,” Gray said. “We would have more productive meetings.”

Gray said having fewer representatives would mean that students could identify each senator as having a strength, and could go to them about specific problems.

“It’s not about having competitive elections,” he said. “It’s about making the senate more efficient.”

Jon Richardson, engineering senator and junior in chemical engineering, disagreed.

“The question isn’t about efficiency, it is about people doing their work,” he said. “You’re affecting people and those people have choices. How do we represent those people by stripping away senate seats?”

A smaller group would cut down on debate, but that would cause more problems than it would solve, said Randy Gebhardt, Frederiksen Court senator and senior in electrical engineering.

“You run the risk of groupthink with smaller numbers,” Gebhardt said.

Giving the students as many voices as possible was a positive step, said Brooks Nelson, GSB vice presidential candidate and sophomore in public services and administration in agriculture.

“I like the idea of having as many student voices represented as possible,” he said.

Sara Faber, vice presidential candidate and junior in public service and administration in agriculture, agreed.

“Communication needs to be improved between the GSB and students and reducing the numbers won’t improve that,” she said.

There are currently 38 GSB senators.