Two Student Association senators were removed from their positions this week.

Steven Le and Yahpri Maxwell were removed from the senate due to an excessive number of absences, with both tallying six absences each. Due to weather and holiday cancellations, there have been only six SA senate meetings held this semester.

Le resigned from the organization due to improper lines of communication within the senate, along with his belief that there were too many subgroups to get things accomplished, he said.

“[The organization] lacks leadership and teamwork,” Le said.

The SA Senate rules committee voted to remove Le, senator-at-large, and Maxwell, representative of SA district 4, due to their absences in a meeting Sunday.

In accordance with the SA constitution, each senator is allowed two absences per semester, or five total for the year.

A one-half absence is assessed for missing the roll call at either the beginning or end of a meeting. If a senator presents a valid reason for their absence, it may be submitted to the speaker of the senate for appeal before the SA rules committee.

Eight senators were absent from Sunday night’s meeting, with 24 of 32 present at the end of the meeting.

Le and Maxwell are now the seventh and eighth senators, respectively, to leave the organization this year. Jose Nepomuceno and Jason Kazmierczak both graduated in December, Dave Sweeney and Phil Gonzalez resigned for personal reasons, John Arndt left for medical reasons and Mike Orescanin resigned to devote more time to his new position as president of his fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon.