Aaron Vehling

Student Senate denied the elimination of its weekly office hour attendance Monday night by a vote of 15-10, with one abstention.

The bill, proposed by the resigning Senator Kevin Funk, would have encouraged senators to serve a weekly office hour, but eliminated the requirement stated in the Senate bylaws.

“I think that the intention of this bill is really great,” Vice President Kate Demerse said. “However, I don’t agree with the language. It’s kind of hard to police something that’s suggested.”

The topic brought a debate lasting about an hour and a half.

The more outspoken proponents of the bill to remove the hours were Senators Funk and Aaron Olson.

“The current system of office hours is a joke,” Olson said, adding that Senate should face up to the fact that students just don’t care.

Funk said other senators can tell if a senator isn’t doing work. The portion of the bill stating senators should average about an hour of work a week was intentionally left vague, he said, so it could be enforced in many different ways.

Director of Academic Affairs Eric Ristau argued against the passing of the bill. He said he isn’t sure when his official office hour is, but said, “I just know I do my job.

“I like change – when it’s needed. Vote this down. This is silly.”