It appears that voters at NIU are not the only students to walk by their obligations “fat, dumb and happy.” The Student Association had better take a second look at its past track record for committee attendance before it starts to criticize students for their apathy.

In the past year, senators have acquired a less than acceptable reputation for “very poor” attendance at the university committees they have been assigned to serve on.

There should be no need to create a policy providing alternate representatives as replacements for senators who are bored or just too apathetic to follow through with their responsibilities.

Senators are elected to represent students by serving as a mouthpiece for student concerns and opinions on issues which are brought to the senate as well as to university committees.

It is not acceptable to excuse such behavior by saying it is the responsibility of the committee chairmen to make students feel more welcome or by dismissing absences because senators do not want to attend the meetings anymore.

By not making a commitment to attending meetings, senators are neglecting their responsibilities to represent the students and are failing to do their jobs. Without student representatives participating in committee discussion and decision making, senators are sacrificing student interests.

The SA wants students to have a voice in university decisions. They even want to run the Holmes Student Center. But how can students have a voice if their representatives are not there to say anything?