By Andrew Pillow

Student Government’s senator-at-large position could become a thing of the past if an act discussed Wednesday night by the Internal Affairs Committee is passed.

The proposal, titled the Senate Membership Constitutional Amendment, would divide the current 40 senators among the colleges and graduate schools. Three freshmen senators and one sophomore senator would be added to each college or school. The amendment would also add a senator for the College of Public Health, which is not currently represented. There would be 41 senators total.

“It will change the proportions of the senators in the Senate and eliminate the senator-at-large position,” said Falon Thacker, College of Arts and Sciences senator.

A senator-at-large currently serves all UK students, with no specific constituents, which some felt may be too broad.

“We’re just so big, there is no typical student,” said Kara Osborne, a senator-at-large.

The new amendment was drafted with the hope of making the student Senate more representative of the university by distributing senators based on population.

The intention was also to bring senators closer to the students they represent by having all the senators be associated with a college, with the exception of the freshmen and sophomore senators.

“The goal is to represent the student body based on proportion,” Thacker said. “We do hope with this to create a more inclusive and diverse Senate.”

Under the proposed plan, registered student organizations not under a specific college would still be able to solicit funding.

“They can still approach any senator of any college that they like,” Thacker said.

Concerns were raised that cutting the senator-at-large position would eliminate qualified candidates.

“I think that a lot of deserving people may get cut from getting elected,” said Taylor Pierce, a senator-at-large.

Thacker said deserving people get cut during every election.

“With college Senate, I feel like there are always going to be people who deserve to get it who won’t necessarily,” Thacker said. “Not everyone who is qualified is going to get to be a senator.”

The committee will forward the proposal to the full Senate, which then must have 75 percent of its members approve the amendment twice before it is passed.

The next full Senate meeting is Wednesday, Oct. 28 in room 206 of the Student Center. Students are welcome to attend.