Student senators have voted to change their organization’s composition.

Student Government Association senators decided to increase their freshmen senators from eight representatives to nine of 36 voting members.

The decision came in two votes: one that allotted another position to freshman, and another that allowed all students to vote for the position, including upperclassmen. The latter of the two votes was passed March 18.

When senatorial elections are held at the end of term, students will be electing 27 senators instead of 28. When freshmen arrive next fall, they are to have nine positions.

For student government president Noam Berns, the change was simple mathematics.

Freshmen must be designated their own positions because they are not on campus to participate in end-of-term elections. Since they must be given their own positions, they should have a fair number, Berns said.

Freshmen are approximately one-fourth of the population, Berns said, so they should get one-fourth of positions.

“It’s about equal representation,” he said.

Freshman senator Casey Ansbro also supported the change for equality’s sake.

“The freshmen population is larger than any other of the university, therefore they need more voices,” she said.

Ansbro said freshmen senators benefit student government through their different viewpoint.

“Having more freshmen will only give us more of an advantage because they see things that the general student population might not,” she said.

Support for the change was not unanimous.

Parliamentarian Chadwick Dolgos said he did not see why the change was necessary.

“If it’s not broken, there’s no need for change,” he said. “I think that having eight seats set aside for freshmen was working.”

Dolgos said the change should not influence how the association operates in committees.

“Freshman seem to be very effective in committees,” he said.

Though the decision was made, Dolgos said he is not disappointed in the outcome.

“It is possible that I was wrong and this will benefit the student body greatly,” he said. “I guess only time will tell.”