Student Senate President Joe Kluever will be ending his term early and stepping down after this semester.
Kluever, who was double-majoring in criminal justice and international studies with a minor in Spanish, became a criminal justice major with minors in Spanish and international studies this semester in order to graduate a semester early.
Kluever is stepping down because he was offered a job in the criminal justice field last summer. At first, he declined the position.
They contacted Kluever again, saying that the position is open for him to take in December. Kluever was able to graduate early in order to accept the job.
“Joe Kluever, never in his wildest dreams, would have ever run for this position thinking that he wasn’t going to carry out the whole term, so I just hope that no one ever seems to think that he did that,” Student Senate adviser Valerie Wetzel said. “He just got to the point where he had this job opportunity, a dream job.”
Kluever said being Student Senate president helped him prepare for his career.
“I think, in most people’s lives, they can just go with their own opinion and do what they want, and every time I make a decision or look at something, I’m like, ‘Okay, we’ve got everybody from ultra-conservative to super liberal at this college, and people who are from a city of 10 million and a town of 50 people, so it’s about trying to balance what makes sense for everybody,” Kluever said. “Sometimes you can’t do that, but it’s made me understand different opinions and I think that’ll be huge, especially going into the criminal justice field.”
Vice President Joesph Sigwarth, a business administration major with an emphasis in marketing, will take over as president next semester after Kluever graduates.
“I admire the way that Joe [Kluever] has run Senate so far, so do I want to emulate him, not necessarily, but do I want to continue on the same path? Yeah, definitely,” Sigwarth said. “It won’t be that much of a change because Joe [Kluever] and I work so closely together, so it will be more of a transition than an overhaul. I’m not too worried—I’m excited.”
Searching for a new vice president
With Sigwarth taking the seat, Senate will need to find a new student body vice president.
Applications are at the Pioneer Involvement Center front desk and by the Student Senate desk in the PIC for anyone who wants to apply. The deadline for the Student Senate vice president application is Nov. 15.
Sigwarth is looking for an individual who has enough knowledge about Student Senate to jump right into the vice president position without difficulty.
He would also like for them to know details, not mind sending out a lot of e-mails and they should be very good with people.
After all applications are turned in, they will interview and review all of the applicants, discuss them with their executive board and then choose the new vice president.
At the end of this semester, Sigwarth will be sworn in as president and the new vice president will be sworn in, as well.
Transitioning to president
Although the need for a transition was unexpected, Kluever believes the transitional period this semester will be very smooth because they have been planning for it since last summer.
Kluever and Sigwarth chose a few programs to work on this semester, and they have been setting up a plan to get everything up and running before Kluever leaves.
That way, all that will be necessary next semester will be tweaking and finalization, taking a lot off Sigwarth’s shoulders.
“I just wish I could stick around for the spring and see everything go through,” Kluever said.
Adviser Wetzel said that a major accomplishment of Kluever and Sigwarth has been picking an executive board.
Kluever explained that recruiting very hard-working, passionate senators will help the transition.
Wetzel added that they have also accomplished opening up better communication with students, as well as tweaking the newsletter to make it better.
They have also made videos of each executive board member and put them online so students can learn more about them.
Another accomplishment they had this semester was getting the library doors back open.
Kluever and Wetzel both have a lot of confidence in Sigwarth’s ability to be a good president next semester.
“I think Joe Sigwarth is one of the best vice presidents I’ve seen,” Wetzel said. “I don’t think he really ever thought he was going to have to do the president part; he was just going to focus on being the best vice president he could be. I think he’s going to do a great job.”
Kluever also hopes that the opportunity for Sigwarth to be president will give him a lot of new experiences and a new outlook on what he can do for the student body.
“I know Joe [Sigwarth] likes to do the more technical stuff, like getting personnel together and making things go through,” Kluever said. “I think, as president, he will really learn how to see the bigger picture, but hopefully he can still do some of the stuff he enjoys, and also tackle these big projects and handle everything. I hope he gets the experience of representing everybody.”
Sigwarth plans to further work on the Student Bill of Rights.
It is extremely out of date, as it has not been changed since 1994, so his first semester as president will mark the 20th year of the current Bill of Rights.
In addition, Sigwarth wants to work on creating guidelines for Senate so that it functions in a more efficient way.
