On Oct. 28 the Senate passed two amendments to the Student Union Constitution that addressed the lack of attendance at Senate meetings.

Vice President Gloria Park '13 said in an interview with the Justice that there has not been a notable difference in attendance since the amendments were passed, but senators "have been more attentive in explaining why they're missing a meeting."

The first amendment stipulates that senators with three or more unexcused absences per semester will be removed from the position, and the second allows senators to vote by proxy.

There had previously been a system for recording excused and unexcused absences but no penalty system in place, said Class of 2013 Senator David Fisch in an interview.

Fisch is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which proposed the amendments.

Should a senator be removed from the position, the student with the second-most votes in the original election would be given the opportunity to fill the position.

If abstain had received the second-most votes or if the student with the second-most votes does not want the position, the seat will remain unfilled until elections the following semester, according to Class of 2014 Senator and Executive Senator Ricky Rosen, who also chairs the Ways and Means Committee.

The amendment aims to "ensure that students who had an active interest in serving on the Senate still ha[ve] an opportunity to participate, namely, when a Senator is not performing his or her duties," said Rosen in an email to the Justice.

Senators with excused absences may vote by email or video-chat on amendments, Senate Money Resolutions and clubs that have been discussed at previous meetings, according to Rosen.

"[W]e didn't want to penalize senators who had excused absences that they could anticipate a week or so in advance," Rosen wrote.

A primary concern for low attendance is that the Senate will not reach quorum, defined as half of the senators plus one, or 12 of the 23 senators, according to Park. Without this number of senators voting to pass a motion, the vote will not count because "technically no vote occurred," said Fisch.

Low attendance can also mean that clubs that return from week to week may be speaking to a different group of senators, which requires repeating presentations and debates, Class of 2015 Senator Sneha Walia said in an interview with the Justice.

"It just eats up the time that we could be talking about ... new information," she said.

The issue of attendance is "not a new problem," said Park.

According to Rosen, "This was something that the Senate discussed last year, but never formally implemented. At the beginning of the semester, some Senators were experiencing a bit of confusion about the level of commitment required of the position."

"Students are elected to Senate positions and should be held accountable to commit to that," said Walia.