A.S. Council appointed three freshman senators at yesterday’s night’s meeting and is also in the process of selecting an advocate general and two transfer senators, making this the first year with an extra transfer senator in office.

Warren College freshman Jeremy Akiyama, Roosevelt College freshman Baldeep Dhaliwal and Muir College freshman Leah Wong were selected to be the new senators, effective Winter Quarter 2011.

“I’m just thankful that I will be one of three people representing the voices of the constituents that have not been represented in A.S. in the past 10 weeks,” Akiyama said.

Akiyama said he is optimistic about his goals for next year.

“It will be challenging since our appointments came at the end of our first quarter at UCSD,” Akiyama said. “But I’m optimistic that the freshman council can gain momentum in January.”

On Tuesday evening, A.S. President Wafa Ben Hassine and a selection committee interviewed 10 out of the 33 applicants, who were scored by committee members based on what they felt best fits what council wanted in a freshman senator, according to Press Secretary Reem Ateyeh.

“We had a significantly higher number of applicants this year,” Ben Hassine said. “This is not traditionally expected, but it is much due to our big push at the beginning of the year due to increased publicity.”

The senator rates in the past followed a 3:1 ratio of three freshman senators to one transfer senator — a reflection on the actual student population.

“Since then, that ratio has increased to more of a 3:2 difference,” current Transfer Senator Adam Powers said. “Another transfer senator was necessary to claim accurate and effective representation of the vital transfer student population.”

Interviews for the two transfer senator positions and one advocate general position will be on Dec. 2 and 3, respectively.

Readers can contact Laira Martin at [email protected].