For the past three weeks, poor attendance records have plagued Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate committees.

The three committees that are part of the Senate have experienced difficulty in maintaining quorum -- a majority of members in attendance -- at meetings.

According to Senate bylaws, official proceedings of any committee meeting can only be conducted when at least five members, other than the committee chair, attend.

Senate President Chris Owens said a drop in attendance usually happens every year before the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.

"Because of Thon, everyone is busy with committee meetings," he said. "If there is poor attendance after Thon, [Vice President] Kim [Roth] and I will have to start taking measures."

Each senator is allotted 10 absences per semester; after the tenth absence the senator may be expelled.

Senate's meeting on Tuesday took a 45-minute recess for the Internal Affairs Committee.

The Internal Affairs Committe , which reviews appointments and decides whether legislation is constitutional, could have its first meeting in two weeks.

The Internal Affairs Committee had to cancel its last two meetings because there were not five committee members present, Internal Affairs Chair Matt Ritsko said.

Internal Affairs meets to save Senate the time and effort of debating the constitutionality of proposed legislation, Ritsko said. It was necessary for the committee to meet before proceeding with Senate appointments.

The Operations Committee has also adjourned its last two meetings because it failed to meet quorum.

Because of the cancellation, the committee was unable to study the Campus Master Plan, the blueprint for University Park for the next 19 years.

Committee Chair Alex Ibrahim said members will look at the master plan at the next meeting if enough senators show up.

He said that before the last two meetings, attendance had not been a problem.

"We haven't really had a problem so far this year," Ibrahim said.

He added that he was unsure of the reason for the recent attendance drop.

Unlike the other committees, the Student Services Committee has not had a problem, Committee Chair Scott Sherbine said.

"It was more of a problem last semester," he said. "A lot of people's schedules have cleared up."

Ibrahim said the committees are not the only part of Senate that is suffering from attendance lows.

He added that the attendance at weekly Senate meetings has also been waning.

"There are some senators I haven't seen all semester," Ibrahim said.

However, Owens said he thinks this year's senators have been much more dependable about attending Senate and committee meetings.

"A few times [last year] barely made quorum, especially around elections," Owens said. "I don' t think the meetings were run very effectively."

Despite the fact that committee attendance has been poor, Senate business as usual has not been affected, Owens said.

"If there is business to be done, it can be done next week," he said. "We never really deal with things that are time sensitive."

Ritsko said that other than the interruption of Tuesday's Senate meeting, the attendance issue has not really been too much of a hindrance for USG meetings.

"Thankfully, we did not have a lot to cover [on Tuesday]," he said. "I hope it's a temporary phase that we are going through."