Dear Senators,
I’m writing to let you know that I won’t be returning to Senate for the spring semester. When I ran for the position of Senate Parliamentarian, I believed that I was also running for the position of a Senator, with a voice, a vote, a constituency, and a role to play in important discussions about our school and its student body. This perspective was a result of all of the information that I had at that time. It has become clear that many Senators don’t feel this is the role that they wish their Parliamentarian to have. By leaving Senate, I hope that I open the door for a truly impersonal discussion, one whose goal is to put in place a Parliamentarian willing to do the job this year’s Senate decides is necessary, whether that be a truly neutral, non-Senate member who is paid to keep order, or something radically different as part of a larger restructuring of the Senate constitution and bylaws. I am sorry that I cannot be that person. I received an email near the end of the first semester calling for my neutrality or resignation, claiming that “a majority of Senators are not satisfied with [my] current interpretation” of the bylaws. Whether it is a true majority or not, I feel that both the tone and content of the discussions surrounding the Parliamentarian’s role thus far have expressed enough dissent to make it impossible for me to continue the year and be a successful, productive Parliamentarian for Senate. I wish you all the best in the rest of the year.
Kara Rota