At yesterday's meeting, the University Faculty Senate reviewed and voted on a self-study report that would decrease the faculty senator ratio while increasing student representation, among other internal changes.

According to the report, the original recommendation was to change the representation ratio for electorate members to senators from 1-20 to 1-30.

Leonard Berkowitz, senator for the commonwealth campuses, said the electorate-senator ratio of 1-30 undermines the effectiveness of the Senate.

"We need to be careful about making radical changes, particularly within representation," he said.

The report shows that for the 2003-04 academic year, Penn State's Senate stands at the high end of representation when compared with other educational institutions. The Senate has 282 faculty and student senators.

Several other universities were compared with Penn State in order to come up with an appropriate ratio to modify current representation.

According to the report, the University of Arizona has 61 senate members, which is on the low end of the spectrum, while the University of Illinois' faculty senate has 250 members, the closest in size to Penn State.

Berkowitz suggested the recommended ratio be changed to one member for every 25 members, which would leave Penn State around the average number of senators when compared to other institutions.

"We need to make sure we get full representation where it is needed," he said. 'One member for every 25 represents a good compromise from the current condition and what is being recommended."

Tramble Turner, senator from Penn State Abington College, said the number might leave representation at risk for the commonwealth campuses, which do not have the numbers University Park has.

Dennis Shea, chair of the Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits, said the purpose of the Senate is representation, not efficiency.

After several other comments from various senators, the Senate voted to amend the ratio to 1-25.

The recommendation was voted on with the amendment and passed.

A separate recommendation was then issued regarding student representation, which is at 9 percent.

The Senate recommended increasing the representation to 10 percent, which unanimously passed.

George Franz, chair for the Senate Self Study Committee, introduced the recommendations and told the Senate it was not a budget-driven report.

"[The report] is being used to improve the Senate, not to cut the budget," he said.

"This is the product of considerable thought and consultation."