The Student Association Senate approved the appointments of David LaMonte, Aaron Langguth, J.R. Perez and Tearched Scott to fill four of the five senate vacancies, but it rejected Christopher Park at Sunday’s meeting.

“I think that’s unfortunate,” said Senate Speaker Andrew Nelms. “I believe Mr. Parks showed some quality attributes that would have added to the senate, but sadly, the majority of senators did not feel the same.”

Park, a sophomore accounting major, was viewed by many senators as not being qualified or ready to serve as a senator.

Since Park had no previous campus involvement, Sen. Doug Reisinger said his first involvement should not be with the SA because of the large amount of money allocated by the senate.

Other senators thought Park should be given a chance.

“I think we should take the opportunity to embrace students who want to get involved,” said Keith Kruchten, an SA senator and Residence Hall Association president.

Park said he understood the rationale for the senate’s decision, but was disappointed. He said he plans to run for the senate again in the future.

Langguth received some criticism because he was unwilling to give specific opinions on past actions of the senate.

“I don’t think it’s my place to say what’s positive and negative [about the senate],” Langguth said.

Sen. Eric Youngquist questioned Langguth’s ability to serve because he had “no vision” of where he wanted the senate to go.

The senate also approved giving $440 to the Asian American Association and the Pan-Asian Interest Student Alliance. The funding is for the fall leadership retreat of the Midwest Asian American Students Union. AAA and PAISA were selected as the conference hosts in April 2002.

AAA and PAISA originally had requested $905, but the amount was reduced partly because of the timeline the groups used for submission.

“I was frustrated by the lateness of it,” said Nelms.

The Senate also recognized a new organization, Black Male Initiative.

Black Male Initiative is a community service organization open to all students that focuses on the academic success of its members.

“We have a 100 percent graduation rate,” said Kevin Williamson, vice president of Black Male Initiative.

The bill to allocate $4,965 to the National Pan-Hellenic Council was referred to the finance committee.