The Wichita State Student Government Association is exploring options to keep senators on track to fulfill their obligations as elected officials.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Vice President Olivia Sullivan proposed a system to encourage senators to earn a set amount of points for completing their senatorial responsibilities. The current system deducts points for neglecting those duties.

“It would be great if we could hold people accountable to the programming we’re doing,” Sullivan said.

Senator accountability appears to be a struggle for SGA officials this year. Two weeks ago, SGA sponsored a volleyball game. Four senators and SGA director of public relations, Brittany Thurman, showed up to help.

With the SGA sponsored concert on Saturday, Thurman is concerned about senators’ commitment level to SGA events.

“I hope you all take the concert seriously, because sometimes it doesn’t feel like it,” she said.

If Sullivan’s plan were to take effect, it’s possible that senators would take their positions more seriously. She suggested that senator’s work toward a point total, for example 15 each month, by attending meetings, meeting the dress code and attending SGA-sponsored events.

It’s hard to get points removed using the current system, Sullivan said. She said that a whole semester could pass by before a senator was brought up for review. If her suggestions were approved, there would be fewer chances for senators to do the minimum. However, there would still be some leniency.

“We all know that things happen, we all have months where it’s a lot harder to get SGA things done,” Sullivan said.

Under her plan, if a senator did not meet the point total for two months in a row, they would be reviewed. If they still failed to do their job after a third month, they would be removed from SGA.

Sen. Sean McLemore wasn’t sure about giving senators that long before reviewing them.

“That’s an entire semester,” he said. “With all due respect, I don’t see a problem with reviewing someone after the first month.”

“If someone missed the first month of SGA, they could be reviewed and kicked out,” said Sen. Casey Donnell in defense of Sullivan’s plan. “This would give someone a better chance to make their case.”

If SGA chooses Sullivan’s plan, it would not be in effect immediately. First the SGA journal would have to be rewritten, the amendment would have to be passed, and then it would have to be implemented, Sullivan said.