During their first meeting of the 2015-2016 academic year, the 45th ASWSU Senate unanimously appointed Ben Varin as an assistant director of communication.

Varin, a senior construction management major, was denied the same position at the end of last semester by the Senate. Some senators felt that he and Marlo Pettie – his fellow assistant director of communication-designate – were not qualified for the position, and expressed concerns about them not being communication majors.

Zak Cherif, the Director of Communication for ASWSU, spoke before the Senate members and asked them to reconsider their decision.

“There hasn’t been any precedent where students on the executive staff must be majoring in the field that they are working in for ASWSU,” he said.

Varin worked alongside Cherif this summer as a volunteer, and the two worked on expanding ASWSU’s social media presence.

Cherif noted that the group’s followers on Twitter and Instagram had nearly doubled and the number of followers on Snapchat had more than tripled from the beginning of June to yesterday.

Pettie did not attend the meeting, and Cherif said that the second assistant director of communication position would open back up for application soon.

Dan Maher, the ASWSU Senate Adviser, announced that he would be stepping down after 20 years of serving the organization.

He then introduced the Senate to his replacement, Rudy Trejo, a former student government adviser from the University of Arkansas.

“I am very proud to have served the Senate for 20 years,” Maher said. “But I think it’s time for a change. I think it’s time for me to move on.”

Reporting by Jonathan Carrigan