By Mallory Schlabach, Editor in Chief

Beginning in May, staff on campus will have a way to express their voices to administrators with the creation of the Staff Senate.

The Senate was spawned from results from the Quality of Life surveys Dr. Money, president of the university, sends out annually to gauge the atmosphere of staff and faculty on campus. The surveys indicated staff members wanted to build more trust between themselves and administrators on campus.

Beth Holland, senior prospect research officer in the Development Office and co-chair of the Senate Planning Committee, said the Senate will serve as an advisory board to Money as a way for staff members to discuss issues and programs they wish to have implemented.

“We hope that this Senate produces a unified spirit of community on campus among staff,” Holland said.

She said so many people work on campus that staff members don’t often know each other, and the Senate will be a way to bring everyone together.

The Staff Senate was introduced to staff members just this week, and will have its first meeting June 5. Until then, much work is to be done still, said Karen Griffith, student services specialist in The Depot and chairperson of the planning committee.

Through Friday, the committee will take nominations for Senator positions. Ten exempt positions and 10 non-exempt positions will be elected for the Senate. Staff members can go online to the Senate’s Web site at www.acu.edu/staffsenate.com to nominate fellow staff members.

Once all nominations are in, the planning committee will then verify that each nominee is valid and see if they are interested in being on the Senate. In two weeks, elections will take place via Web site.

More than 900 staff members work on campus, Griffith said, and it’s important for their voice to be heard too, which is why the senate’s slogan is: “Your voice on campus.”

“I wasn’t sure what to think before our all-staff meeting Tuesday,” Griffith said. “Not many people knew about it before then, so I didn’t know if they would even want to do this.”

She said her fears were calmed after hearing the response this week and having staff members ask questions about how the Senate will work.

Holland, too, said the excitement on campus, is apparent.

“We’ve had nominations coming in steadily for the Senator positions,” she said. “I wondered if they were excited to do this, and with these nominations pouring in, I think it indicated the interest.”

Once the Senate begins meeting, which will take place each month, the 20 Senators will begin discussing issues important to staff. Staff members not serving as a senator can submit ideas or issues to their senators by e-mail to staffsenate@acu.edu or go to the Web site to submit ideas.

Griffith encouraged staff to make nominations if they haven’t already and to return to the Web site in May to elect the senators.

“I think this is going to be a positive thing for the ACU community,” she said.