While there is the perception of widespread apathy toward Associated Students, it doesn’t mean that UCSD students shouldn’t care about what goes on in the A.S. Council.

Just ask A.S. President Jenn Pae, who was unable to get funding from A.S. reserves to hire a lawyer to renew the preliminary co-op agreement in part because nine A.S. senators could not find the time to vote on the issue between Feb. 23 and Feb. 25. The council needed support from two-thirds of its 24 voting members to release the funds; if eight senators don’t vote, it’s impossible to get a two-thirds majority.

After fighting for negotiations and an agreement with the university, the Council should be ashamed that it can’t even supply enough roll call votes to make approval of this important allocation possible. While the absent senators may have purposefully voted “no” with their feet, college constituents are left with no clear notion of how their representatives felt about the issue.

Clearly, there is something wrong with a voting and representation structure that elects senators who can’t fulfill their most basic responsibilities. While it’s too late to change the structure for the upcoming elections, next year’s elected officials should think long and hard about how to structure an A.S. Council that can better serve the UCSD students — that is, after they finally finish filling the certain-to-be-empty senator spots.