Senate
The legislative branch is made of the Senate, which is comprised of 50 Senators, the Speaker, the Associate Speaker, and the Special Assistants.
The 50 Senators represent the residential areas: Central, North Apartments, Northeast, Orchard Hill, Southwest, Sylvan, and Commuter (Off-Campus).
The Office of the Speaker: The Speaker and the Associate Speaker lead the Senate. They are elected by the Senators in the spring. The Speaker then appoints five Special Assistants. Each Special Assistant helps the Speaker work with one of the five Senate committees.
Responsibilities and Getting Involved
The Senate is responsible for:
- passing resolutions and enactments
- allocating the $2 million budget
- expressing the will of the undergraduate student body on campus
Senators are appointed to one of the listed standing committees:
- Administrative Affairs
- Ways and Means
- Finance
- State & Federal
- Student & Academic
- UMass Amherst Day Select Committee
- Subsidiary Governance Body Select Committee
- Elections
Senators are also required to be a member of a Faculty Senate or other Administrative Committee such as SAJIC or the Police Advisory Board.
Students should contact their Senators with any concerns or suggestions they may have. Click here to see who your Senators are.
Elections: Any student interested in affecting change on campus should consider running for Senate in the fall semester. Nominations open in the first week of September, and online voting is held on Campus Pulse at the end of September.
Bylaws
The bylaws are a set of rules that the UMass Student Government Association must follow. You can download and view the current approved 2011 SGA bylaws by clicking the link below.
Click here to download the 2011 SGA bylaws