The Daily Collegian is hopeful that Town Sen. Jason Covener knows how to take a hint.

Covener will remain a member of the Undergraduate Student Government Senate after surviving an expulsion vote Tuesday.

Fourteen of 26 voting senators voted in favor of Covener's expulsion, but a two-thirds majority was needed to remove Covener from office.

USG President Justin Zartman said after the vote that Covener should acknowledge the sentiments of the simple majority and resign from senate. That's not a bad idea.

Covener informally heads senate's conservative coalition, a group that once abhorred its name — Covener declared last spring that there was no such thing — but grew to embrace it after gaining majority control of the senate.

Now some coalition members are distancing themselves from Covener, largely because of his arrogance and contempt for senators who don't see eye-to-eye with his personal politics.

Covener and his minions have tarnished the name of their conservative coalition, and it's not because of the group's conservative politics. It's the coalition part that bothers people — anyone who doesn't share the group's opinions can expect frustration. Numerous senators have resigned their seats during Covener's tenure because of the bickering in senate.

One half of the failed presidential/vice-presidential ticket that Covener and his cohorts endorsed last spring left senate when Claudia Lum, a member of the coalition, announced her resignation in November. Lum said academic concerns were her main reason for leaving but also credited the constant fighting. "Everything I thought was beneficial got shot down," she said at the time of her resignation.

Former Town Sen. Mike Fazio, a Republican, was ousted from his position of town caucus chair in December by the coalition. Covener said, "The face of senate has changed."

This declaration runs counter to what Covener said in Tuesday's edition of The Daily Collegian. "None of us are monsters, we are willing to work with dissenting opinions," he said.

The resignations by senators who openly admit to conservative politics are proof that Covener's coalition has never been about advancing a political platform. Rather, it's a power trip. If conservatives can't accomplish things in senate when the majority of senate's members are College Republicans, something's wrong.

Jason Covener wasn't expelled from senate Tuesday, but he might want to consider the resignation that Zartman suggested. If he does leave, both conservatives and liberals on senate might be able to accomplish a little more.