Do you want to hear a joke, a funny joke? I’m talking a funny, funny joke. This one will make your sides split you’ll be laughing so much.

A duck walks into a bar orders a shot of whiskey, drinks it tells the bartender to put it on his bill. Cracking up?? Now why in God’s name not? Too old, heard it before? All right how’s this one What do you call a busload of lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? Give up? A good start. You’re not laughing. I guess you heard that one as well.

I guess you have heard all these jokes before. But I’ve got one for you, have you ever seen a joke. I know like me you’ve undoubtedly watched comedies either on the television or at the movies, but have you ever seen a joke. Most people haven’t, they have seen gags played out, Pratt falls, pies in the face and the like. We’ve all seen the “Three Stooges” and laughed at their eye gouges, slaps in the face, and so on and so on. But those are not living breathing jokes. No my friends the only place to see a joke in progress, in my humble opinion is at a UMB STUDENT SENATE MEETING.

I am telling you once you see one of these meetings you will either want to shoot yourself in the foot, or laugh you bloody ass off. I, for one, wouldn’t mind doing both at this point and time. I am telling you my friends. Can I assume that we are friends? Good, thanks. The Student Senate, for the most part, is a joke. And a point of information before we go any further; I am a student senator. Not to confuse you, but I must remind the faithful readers of The Mass Media, that, though I am a student senator, the views I am expressing here, are my own, and I do not speak for or on behalf of the Student Senate or SGA. I have to tell you that, because it’s in our by-laws.

I love being on the Student Senate. I love the fact that I am among the twenty or so students that represent the entire student body. I love the fact that I have more responsibility than to just to myself. That I have a responsibility to the students, and if my job isn’t done right that they will voice their opinions. But this doesn’t happen.

It is impossible to hear the students, when the bickering and arguing of several members of the Student Senate drown out all other voices. My fellow senators would rather argue for a half an hour on a seven-minute time limit than hear what the students have to say on any certain matter. Mind you some of the student senators work hard. Some hardly work, some do not show up for full senate meetings, some have even missed the first two senate meetings, some don’t feel the need to attend committee meetings, even if they are the chair of the committee. Some of the student senators are in it solely for their own needs. Some are in it to strengthen their resumes; some are in it to get connections to the outside world, while some are in it simply to be called senator.

I do not feel that everyone on the senate is this way. I believe that some, a select few, have gotten on the senate for nobler purposes than “what’s in it for me?” I hope I am viewed as one of the select few who are seen to be in it for the common good of the school and the students.

I will not speak on the senators who fit either category. Each knows in which segment they belong. Each may wish or view themselves as being in the second. But all are not. Not everyone on the Student Senate is in it for altruistic reasons. Not everyone is in it for the students, not everyone hears the students, not everyone.

What’s the matter? You’re not laughing. Nor should you. You may break out into laughter when you see these meetings take place. You may chuckle at the fact that this group of individuals has been selected to represent you. But I tell you my friends this is no laughing matter. I’m not laughing anymore.