Last night the Student Government Association tackled senate apathy and campus diversity concerns, debating over the newly declared University of Massachusetts admissions policy that eliminates the use of a point system.

With 46 of 63 members of the Senate present, the meeting took place at the top floor of the Campus Center.

According to Speaker Jared Nokes, Senate President David Carr was not present for the sake of monitoring student activity in the Southwest Residential Area for Game 6 between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Nokes announced he was not happy that none of the Senate committees had met over the past week.

“We need to reevaluate a little bit, what we’re doing … I don’t think I have talked to a chair yet that has talked to all of their committee members,” Nokes said. “We have a very big role to play, and we’re passing on it. We really should be doing more than this.”

Nokes said he would like to see the committees meet this week and that he was also upset with a fundamental change made in terms of admission policy at the University. He said it was a mistake that the Senate was not more involved. According to Nokes, Chancellor John Lombardi didn’t have to take action on the policy right away.

“We definitely should have said something,” Nokes said. “At least a reaction to it.”

However, Associate Speaker Christopher Eckel said the Senate meeting attendance has been great thus far. “[It’s been] a lot better than previous years,” he said.

According to him, the parliamentary procedure workshop for new members of the Senate took place prior to last night’s meeting and went well.

Eckel pleaded for new senators to get to know University administrators.

“We do have a lot of power here,” he said. “But ultimately, it comes down to them. Don’t be afraid to get out there and talk to them.”

According to Attorney General Mark Morrison, the SGA Judiciary is still non-existent and the application process is now closed.

“Some resumes are transparent,” he said. “Some are enthusiastic.”

He also said he doesn’t understand why the Judicial Advisors program was taken out of the Dean of Students office. “We want to rejuvenate it because it is really important,” he said.

Morrison believes a judicial body to be highly necessary this semester with the amount of students being suspended. According to him some of the students who were involved in a riot on Phillips St. about 3 weeks ago are being accused of 40 to 50 criminal charges.

Morrison said he has been in contact with seven of those students already this semester and only spoke with two all of last year.

“If we’re not willing to pay for students rights to be protected I think it’s kind of ridiculous,” he said. “I can’t get the program running until we have a strong foundation for it.”

Regarding the newly enacted admissions policy at the University, Secretary of Diversity Issues Russell Plato said he met with the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Michael Gargano, and announced that the new policy wasn’t something the University just decided on their own.

According to him, it had to do with the Michigan ruling in which a point-based system of admissions was deemed unconstitutional.

“Legally they had to get rid of [the point system],” he said. “It’s gone.”

According to Plato, University admissions is going to spend more time reading applicants’ files instead of looking at points. “[The University] does want to start matching national numbers,” he said. Plato said he will be watching admissions and seeing how everything works.

According to Plato, the approach of UMass admissions will be similar to that of which Amherst College would take.

“You wont get it simply because you’re an ALANA student,” Plato said. “It’s just going to be one factor among many.”

Gargano does not believe the number of ALANA students will decrease, Plato said. However, Senator Gladys Franco expressed concern. The percentage of ALANA students has been decreasing since the 1990’s, she said, adding her belief that the administration has manipulated the numbers by using international students to skew the current percentage.

A report to the Senate by chair of Administrative Affairs, Levi O’Brien regarding the 2003 National Conference On Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) was also highly discussed. O’Brien said he believed the nine-student trip to the San Francisco Bay area for conferences addressing race and diversity challenges was beneficial.

While Plato said that similar conferences could be had at UMass for less money, such as the upcoming Diversity Round Table meeting, O’Brien said the NCORE trip was relative to students and could be in the future.

“We spent money, so that the University has a much better climate than it has in the past,” he said. “We can make some very powerful changes to the campus climate.”

Secretary of University Policy Brian Long also noted that 11 new students have been appointed to the Faculty Senate councils and committees. These students will report to him with information from each meeting that in turn will be passed on to President Carr and the rest of the Senate.