Getting more student input for Senate decisions and encouraging students to vote in the November election are the two primary focuses of the Student Senate this semester.

“A lot of (our focus) is going to be keeping our campaign promises,” said senior Matt Flaten, who was elected as Senate vice president in the spring. Junior Sarah Schuh is the Senate president.

As one of their promises, Flaten and Schuh said they will strive to develop a program to get the Student Senate more involved with the other student organizations on campus. Senators will talk to organizations to relay what Senate has to offer and to get feedback on what the organizations would like to see the Senate do, Flaten said.

Schuh added that Senators will confront students to get their input, which is a different strategy from the past when students had to approach the Senate.

The Senate also will put a lot of energy into their other foucs – encouraging students to vote.

“It’s really important that students vote and are a part of that process,” Schuh said. “Students hold their power through numbers, not through the money they can give to candidates, so we need a lot of students to vote.”

Flaten stressed how students can be affected by who is elected governor by pointing out that the cost of tuition is decided by the UW System Board of Regents, and the governor controls who is on the Board.

“The governor could directly affect students as far as how much tuition is, what is built on campus,” Flaten said. “Just their small vote for governor plays a really big role.”

Schuh and Flaten have seen the power that students can have as a group.

Last year, for example, the United Council, a statewide student grassroots organization that UW-Eau Claire is involved with, worked on a state-wide campaign to fight for financial aid rising proportionately with tuition increases. Through student lobbying, the United Council ended up getting the governor’s signature.

“Now students who wouldn’t have as much money will have more opportunity in financial aid,” Schuh said. “With that victory we want to show what happens when students get involved in the process.”

Flaten pointed out that students can influence election results locally as students make up about one-sixth of the Eau Claire population.

Schuh said the Senate will set more specific goals for the semester after their first meeting on Monday.