<!-- ORIGINAL FAVORITE, COMMENT, SHARE

• Sign in to favorite this

• Discuss

  Comment,
  Blog about

• Share this

  Email,
  Facebook,
  Twitter

-->

Graduate Student Senate will be accepting nominations for a new chair after the previous chairwoman resigned Tuesday.

Psychology doctoral student Kiersten Baughman said she tendered her resignation after she was asked by her department to take another position.

The Senate will request nominations beginning Monday and ending Aug. 31, Senate vice-chairman James Cook said.

The Senate’s executive committee will then put together a ballot and a selection will be made as soon as possible, he said.

As vice-chairman, Native American Studies graduate student Cook will assume Baughman’s responsibilities until a person is selected as the new chair.

Cook and Baughman were elected as leaders during last semester’s Senate elections.

Cook said he supported Baughman’s decision and that he was looking forward to getting a new chair elected.

“She is doing what’s best for her and her department,” Baughman said.

Nominees for Baughman’s position must be in good standing with the Senate, and the senator must have served at least a spring or fall semester, according to the Senate’s bylaws.

Cook has served on the Senate for five semesters and said he would consider accepting a nomination if his name is brought up, but he has a family and other obligations to fulfill.

Baughman was forced to choose between the Senate and the psychology department when she was asked to take another position in the department, Baughman said.

The new position, along with her role as chairwoman, made her a full-time employee, so she had to pick a position that would move her below the full-time employee threshold, she said.

State law does not allow graduate students to be full-time employees, Baughman said.

Graduate students have an obligation to serve their respective department, Baughman said.

“It was completely not my plan,” she said. “I was very much looking forward to serving as chair.”

Baughman said she still plans to serve as a senator, since that doesn’t impact her part-time employee status at the university.

Senate adviser George Ahmadi expressed regret that Baughman had to resign, but said the shake-up in leadership wouldn’t cause any problems in the Senate.

There are rules in the bylaws to deal with situations like this, he said.

“We will not see any setbacks in any way,” Ahmadi said. “The show must go on.”

The Senate’s first meeting is 7 p.m. Sunday in Sarkeys Energy Center, room A235.

The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register