The Undergraduate Student Government Senate changed the way it appoints senators last night, giving more power to the senate president.

This comes on the heels of recent discrepancies regarding how the Senate Appointments Review Board (SARB) filled vacancies.

These issues include not advertising openings in The Daily Collegian, closing the interview process after receiving the minimum of three applications and allegedly filling a still-occupied senate seat.

"What happened with the last two seats showcased how inefficient the process was," said Town Senator and SARB Chair Brendan Holloway.

"I think that streamlining the process will make this more efficient and effective, increasing the representation from both the town and area," he added.

The new procedure was reached as a compromise between senators and presidents of the residence hall area governments.

"We worked it out so that we took everyone's needs into consideration," Town Sen. Jason Covener said.

Area senators will now be appointed by a caucus. This will consist of the senate president, area government president, and the most senior area senator. If there is not a current senator, the area president will appoint the third member from that area.

However, not everyone involved is in full support of this new process.

"It is not completely unfair, but I am upset that we had to strive for this simply because senate did not follow their bylaws," said West Halls Residence Association President Mike Carroll. "Before we (area governments) had more power, and now they (senate) are blaming the process not working before on us. But I am glad we got the opportunity to meet and come to some sort of compromise."

Senate President Sean Clark will then notify the senate of the vacancy at the next meeting of the USG Senate.

Clark will then alert the area government president of the vacancy within 48 hours of the senate meeting in which the vacancy is announced. Then 48 hours after that, Clark will advertise the vacancies and the start of the application process in the Collegian. The ad will run for three consecutive academic days.

Openings will be filled by the president of the residence hall association of that area, in accordance with the USG Constitution.

Regarding town vacancies, Town Caucus will serve in the role of the area government.

This new process takes power away from SARB, which was formerly responsible for interviewing applicants for open senate seats and then giving its recommendation to the full senate to vote on.

Now it is the senate president's job to collect applications.

Applications will be accepted from the time the vacancy is announced until one week after the ad appears in the Collegian. If there are no applications at the end of this seven day period, the time for accepting applications will be extended until the first one is submitted.

Within 48 hours of the close of the application process, Clark will set up the interview schedule. He must also inform other members of the caucus of the interview schedule at least 24 hours before the first interview begins.

The president of the residence hall association will then interview the applicants and fill the vacancy.