Attendance at House meetings hits low point

By Jonathan Sampson
Staff Reporter

The House of Student Representatives would have been unable to conduct business Tuesday if one less person had attended the meeting.

Scott McCray, House parliamentarian, said with 39 of 65 voting members counting in, House attendance came to exactly 60 percent — the number required to carry on activities.

“I think it’s about time we get on the horn here this evening and see where people are,” he said during the meeting.

House Vice President Amy Render told representatives that their attendance in committees was also of concern.

Render said committee attendance problems are part of the reason House has not passed any legislation yet. She said she is uncertain about exact committee attendance because committee leaders haven’t been turning in their attendance rosters.

House policy states that representatives cannot miss more than three meetings a semester, but Render said they have not been enforcing this policy.

“It’s somewhat my fault for not enforcing it on the (committee leaders) to enforce it on the representatives, but we’re definitely going to get that going,” she said.House records show that House attendance was around 87 percent at this time last semester.

Render told representatives that she wanted them to begin to take the initiative and motivate each other to get things done and get involved.

“In the past semesters, (we) have come out with so many legislation changes on campus,” she said. “Maybe not all of them worked, but at least reps were out there trying to make the connections with students and get legislation through.”But Render said the amount of legislation at this point is very similar to last fall.

“I think some of the problem is that there wasn’t a whole lot (of legislation) coming out last year, and so it’s just kind of natural to do the same thing,” she said.

She said some committees also must do a lot of research in order to write bills, and she doesn’t want to force them to simply write for the sake of writing.

“If it’s something stupid, don’t write it,” she said. “But I definitely think that more could be done.”

Ashley Pedroza, a Colby Hall representative, said she was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting, but it was the first one she has missed all semester. She said she hasn’t noticed that attendance has been a problem.

“Usually there’s enough people there, and it’s pretty much packed,” she said.

Render attributed the low attendance to Spring Break, but Pedroza said she didn’t think people would be out of town on Tuesday.

Render said she also thinks House hasn’t presented a lot of information for representatives to take back to their constituents, which is usually one incentive for attendance.

“I just would hope that what they’re doing in committee would enforce them in coming to House,” she said.

Jonathan Sampson
j.m.sampson@student.tcu.edu