The UW-Platteville Student Senate was misguided in attempting to recall Senate Business Manager, Eric Hopfensperger, and in doing so missed the big picture. There is a loophole in the system that has yet to be addressed and is the root of the problem.

The so-called “straw that broke the camel’s back” according to Sen. Nathan Wait, who brought forth the recall charges, was Hopfensperger’s alleged collusion regarding the upcoming Senate presidential election. Wait made the claim that Hopfensperger was trying to handpick the new Student Senate president through a loophole in the Senate constitution. In the constitution, if the president vacates the position the vice president would ascend to the empty position and be allowed to choose any student as a vice president, needing only majority approval by the Senate.

It was alleged that Hopfensperger was intending on running for the presidential position and then planned on graduating this spring, which would allow his vice president to assume power and then personally choose someone to fill the empty vice president spot. In Monday’s Student Senate meeting, Hopfensperger announced that he is not graduating in May but rather in December and is still planning on running for Senate president.

This action is unacceptable but allowable under the Student Senate constitution. Any student who intends to graduate before the end of their term shouldn’t be able to run for Student Senate, with an exception for those returning to take graduate courses. It wouldn’t be a constraint on students, but a common sense policy. If you cannot fulfill your term, you shouldn’t be able to run for a paid elected office. Fixing this one loophole would prevent this collusion attempt from happening again.

I may not agree with the alleged tactics, but should Student Senate have attempted to punish Hopfensperger for exploiting a flawed system? He is shining a light on a loophole of ignorance in the Student Senate constitution. I understand there were other charges, but they were minor compared to collusion of a student election.

This alleged chain of events had already occurred previously and went uncorrected. Three years ago this tactic was used by Mark Bubb and Brian McCray under similar circumstances. Bubb and McCray ran for Senate president and vice president respectively and were elected, taking office before the end of the Spring 2006 semester. Then, Bubb announced that he was resigning and stepped down. That gave Senate president to McCray, who appointed Greg Gallagher Senate vice president, which meant the vice prsident received his position without a student election. This was crafty but allowable under the current Senate election system. That’s exactly what is being alleged of Hopfensperger. Why single him out now if it was allowed before?

Something needs to be changed. Our senators need to fix the loophole that allows the winner of our Student Senate popularity contest to pick their successor instead of trying to slap Hopfensperger on the wrist. Wait and other senators wanted to get bent out of shape because Hopfensperger tried to pull the wool over their eyes and had their recall. In doing so, they wasted their entire meeting and our campus resources instead of getting at the heart of the issue.

How can we, the student body, trust Student Senate to act in our best interests if all they do is waste time, sling mud and manipulate the system they work under?