The Student Government Association and its executive and legislative body, the Student Senate, represents students and deals with matters that affect student life.

Their duties include granting official recognition to student organizations and allocating hundreds of thousands of dollars in Student Activity Fee proceeds.

However, the negative connotations we associate with the word “political” are showing up in our Student Senate. Tension within the organization is evident to anyone who attends its weekly meeting.

A Senate meeting has a routine. They address issues in an organized manner, even using a gavel to close discussion, but that is where the professional atmosphere seems to end.

Certain members challenge almost everything that everyone else brings to the table. There is interrupting, pouting and arguing.

This is politics, after all. But when politics gets in the way of taking care of business, it becomes apparent that some senators’ priorities may be misplaced.

Senators are not using the power they claim to have, but, rather, they are letting the administrators puppeteer their actions by not pushing important issues.

Our students have enough issues to keep our student government occupied. Senators need to put aside inside problems and focus on addressing the needs and desires of our students.

Resolving issues always seems to be an ongoing process that is slow to yeild results. The Senate is blocking its own way.

At an Oct. 11 meeting, senators devoted more time to the catty volleying of arguments on the technicalities of an absence and a process in their constitution than addressing issues that impact students’ lives.

A small block of time was dedicated to a presentation of a survey that evaluated shuttle use, but they fought with more passion over issues that have no bearing outside of Senate.

Imagine the results they could produce if there were no politics in their politics.