Several observers have recently questioned how some open Undergraduate Student Government Senate seats have been filled, alleging that the group failed to follow its bylaws when appointing new members.

In two different instances, with East and West hall representation, the senate did not follow its own rules.

The group's bylaws explicitly state that the Senate Appointments Review Board (SARB) chair will immediately use monies from the senate restricted accounts to advertise open seats in The Daily Collegian. In both cases, this procedure was not practiced.

"We should have had an ad in there," said Town Senator and SARB Chair Brendan Holloway. "It's my fault; it's ultimately my fault that I didn't put it in there. I should have put it in there."

However, despite the bylaws, Holloway explained that he does not have the authority to withdraw money from the senate account. Only Senate President Sean Clark, USG President Justin Zartman, and USG Treasurer Ashley King have this power, he said.

"I cannot do that myself so, theoretically, yes, it's my duty to do that but that can't happen in practice because of the way the laws are structured," Holloway added.

He explained that last semester it had been Clark's responsibility to place the ads.

"When I'm reading the Collegian I'll look for it, but I don't go out of my way to look for it," Holloway said. "That's not in my job description to make sure that an ad has been run, but it should be somebody's duty because it's good to have the ad out there, it's good to make sure that people will see it."

Clark also did not notify the presidents of the area governments of either resignation, as the bylaws assert he should do.

"I felt stupid to send them an e-mail when they already knew of the resignations," he said.

The senate bylaws state that interviews must start no later than two weeks after an ad has been placed. There must be three applications for every one vacancy. If two weeks have passed since the Collegian ad was run, and the minimum number of required applicants has not applied, then the SARB chair must begin the interviewing process.

Regarding the East Halls seat, which is still vacant, there are other issues being called into question.

During the Nov. 27 meeting, Clark, during his president's report, said that then- East Halls Sen. Joe Lopez would be resigning from the senate effective spring semester.

While at the next meeting Lopez was still a voting member, Holloway said he decided to close the application process, after receiving the minimum of three applications. This raised concern that SARB closed a seat that was still filled.

East Halls Residence Association Treasurer Sean Miller said Lopez announced his resignation effective for the spring at the Nov. 29 EHRA meeting. Miller then picked up an application in the USG office the next day, and was told by Town Sen. Bridget Van Osten not to submit the application until the following Wednesday.

Miller said that when he handed in the completed application on Tuesday night, Holloway explained that the process was closed since he had already received the minimum number of three applications.

Miller said that he thought the application process was unfair for several reasons. He said three applications were not a large enough pool to choose from, especially for East Halls, the largest residence area on campus.

He added that since Lopez announced his resignation to EHRA on Thursday and the process was closed off early the next week, there was not ample time for interested persons to apply, especially since an ad was not run.

"I didn't see the seat as actually open," Van Osten said. "I don't think that SARB followed the senate bylaws during this process since no ad was printed and Lopez was not yet gone. Order was not followed.

I don't see what it would have hurt to take more applications, to find the best person for the seat. For him (Holloway) to close the seat when he did was wrong and unconstitutional."

Holloway explained that he rejected Miller's application because he already had the minimum of three applications by that time, had conducted the interviews for the seat, and had written, but not yet submitted, the SARB report on these findings.

"My policy of the whole last semester, that I'm sticking to this semester, is that after I conduct all the interviews then I'm done interviewing," Holloway said. "I'm not going to accept applications up until the minute before the senate meeting. I have to cut it off at some point."

Concerning whether SARB filled Lopez's seat while he was still a senator, Holloway said that it is up to an individual's interpretation of the constitution.

"There are discrepancies in the way that the rules are written and that's where I think the discrepancies come from," Holloway said.

"This is the most loosely written document I've seen in a long time. The USG bylaws in the constitution, they're so hard to read, you can interpret them different ways if you want," he added.

Holloway said his interpretation was that Lopez's seat would be open effective the first week of the second semester, and that interviews could be conducted in the mean time, so that the East Halls would have representation at the first meeting in the spring.

"We knew it was going to happen and would rather be proactive than reactive," he added.

Holloway said that he received applications over the weekend and did the interviews Monday, Dec. 3.

"From my understanding, the position was never open to accept applications," said EHRA President Matt Zielinski. "My (EHRA) members were not given proper notification and Lopez was still in position to vote."

Out of the three applicants SARB accepted, only two came to the actual interview, Zielinski added.

The East Halls seat is still vacant because Zielinski did not consider the candidates SARB recommended as "good representation for East Halls."

During tonight's senate meeting, Zielinski is going to ask Holloway to reopen the process.

In the case of the West Halls vacancy, an ad was never placed, and questions arose about the time frame of the application process.

On Nov. 25, West Halls Residence Association President Mike Carroll received written notification of former West Halls Sen. Jon Brenizer's resignation. The senate seat was vacant as of the Nov. 27 senate meeting. Although an ad was never run, a brief article reporting on the resignation was printed on the same day of the meeting.

"I had to argue with Brendan that it had been two weeks since the article ran and the interviews needed to start," Carroll said.

He added that Holloway said according to senate rules, he had to wait for three applications before he could begin the process.

Carroll said that after returning from winter break, Holloway still had not obtained three applications and told Carroll to wait longer.

"We were going to be unrepresented for three straight meetings," Carroll said.

Holloway agreed to interview the two candidates during last Tuesday's meeting and then submitted the recommendations to Association of Residence Hall Students.

Carroll then interviewed the applicants on Wednesday and appointed Kristen Kofmehl, WHRA's Webmaster, on Thursday night.

"I wish the ad was run. If run, we could have avoided the controversy," Holloway said, recognizing the importance of informing the general public of vacancies.

However, in situations like East and West, where there is virtually no publicity, Holloway said that, "current senators notify people of openings all the time."