New senators took their seats for the first time and a new cabinet was seated at the Government of the Student Body Senate meeting Wednesday night.

The first order of business for the new senate was seating the speaker and vice speaker of the senate.

Two senators were nominated: last year’s speaker, Tony Luken, and last year’s vice speaker, David Leege. A majority of senators voted for Luken, but there were not enough votes for the 2/3 majority required.

The senate later confirmed Luken as speaker with a 27-0-2 vote.

This is Luken’s fourth year on GSB, his second as speaker of the senate.

Andrew Miller, off-campus senator, voted for Luken. Miller said he supports Luken because he was speaker last year and because Leege will be graduating at the end of fall semester.

Jeremy Schweitzer, Richardson Court senator, voted for Leege. Schweitzer said both candidates are qualified for the job and will do a good job of serving the senate, however he said change in leadership is a good thing.

Schweitzer later nominated Leege to be reseated as the vice speaker.

Leege respectfully declined the nomination to continue in the position.

“I think it’s great to have variety and to give as many students the opportunity to be involved in GSB and to have a leadership role,” Leege said.

There were also two nominees for vice speaker: William Rock, off-campus senator, and Henry Alliger, senator from the College of Agriculture.

This year is the second for both candidates as GSB senators.

Rock gained a majority of votes, but not enough for the 2/3 majority, and was later unanimously confirmed by the senate.

The senate then moved in a unanimous vote to seat last year’s finance director, David Boike, for another term, despite some controversy surrounding his appointment.

Luken said Boike is the best candidate for the position.

The senate also unanimously voted to seat President Mike Banasiak and Vice President Ben Albright’s nominations for chief of staff and executive cabinet.

All of the cabinet positions were seated except for the position of director of information technology, which Banasiak said no one applied for.

“It feels great to have everyone seated; I didn’t have any doubts they wouldn’t be confirmed,” Banasiak said.

“I’m just glad they can now officially start with their duties,” he said.

Sheena Green, new director of student diversity, said it’s an honor to be seated. Green said she will contact past directors of diversity to find out more about the job. She said she will spend the summer to take time to put her initiatives together.