Heidi Plato

When Student Senate President Justin Hentges steps aside during tonight’s Senate meeting, he and Vice President Erin Brandt will give way to the new regime of student-leaders for the next 12 months.

The transition likely will cause the regular weekly meeting to be an emotional one, especially for the four people involved in the presidential transition.

At least one of the various emotions Andrew Oettinger, the next president of Student Senate, will experience will be relief that the day is finally here.

“It’s still been stressful to a point,” Oettinger said. “But really not as much as the election. Now it’s just a nervous, excited feeling.”

Oettinger has had aspirations of running for president since joining Senate, but the road has been a long one.

“I remember Eric Kasper and he just knew everything,” Oettinger said of the former president’s performance as a leader.

“And now I’m sort of Eric, because now I’m supposed to understand everything.”

Oettinger and Vice President-elect Kelly Witkowski have spent the past few weeks rounding out their duties of their current jobs on Senate and readying themselves for the presidency, which has included the time-consuming but important job of choosing their staff.

“The hard part is when people are your friends,” Witkowski said of evaluating the candidates, noting they obviously had to remain neutral while evaluating the skills of their potential staff members.

But she said a large number of qualified applicants – notably new applicants – has helped ease the process.

One of those staff members who has been extra helpful for Oettinger and Witkowski has been Brandt, who will be the new director of the Student Life and Diversity Commission. She and Hentges are hoping for a smooth transition.

“They both want to see Senate succeed,” Witkowski said. “They’re willing to answer questions whenever we talk.”

Oettinger said they also have joined the outgoing leaders at various meetings with administrators and students, all in hopes of learning their role.

“It’s important to cover everything,” Oettinger said, but he added that he knows many aspects of the job won’t be learned until the two are in office.

And that’s when they can do what they set out do: help students.

There were many tasks on Oettinger and Witkowski’s platform, but when asked to name a single item that likely will be changed in the coming year, they both pointed to advising at the university.

Oettinger and the Academic Affairs Commission have been working on the issue for some time now, and Senate is ready to take action.

A bill is scheduled to be introduced today that, if passed, will create a group to draft a report about advising.

Information has been collected from an advising survey, and the group would submit a report to senate and administrators noting what changes need to be made.

“We have the concrete info and that’s something we can honestly do in the next couple of months,” Witkowski said. “And it affects every student.”