The Student Association senate passed a bill on Tuesday night that will give graduate students special representation in the SA.

Spearheaded by SA senators Chris Bruno (Law) and Katie Santo (CCAS-G), the bill creates a standing committee composed of all graduate senators in the senate. The mission of the graduate affairs committee is to deal with all legislation that directly affects graduate students, ending the disillusionment that many graduate students have felt in the past with the SA, Bruno and Santo said.

“Katie and I spent countless hours in the SA office trying to make sure that this was legislation that was balanced and was fair and really gives graduate students the voice that they deserve,” Bruno said.

Santo said the committee addresses the lack of graduate school presnece in the organization.

“If you look at the numbers.there were twice as many undergraduate senators than graduate senators,” Santo said. “On top of that, there are about 2,000 more graduate students than undergraduate students.”

In addition to providing seats for the graduate SA senators, the committee also includes an ex officio seat for Vice President of Graduate Affairs Emmanuel Caudillo.

“I’m looking forward to working with the legislators to bring graduate issues to the forefront,” Caudillo said.

The Senate also filled two empty seats in the body.

Senior Elliot Bell-Krasner was voted into a vacant Columbian College of Arts and Sciences seat. Bell-Krasner has tried multiple times unsuccessfully to obtain a position in the senate.

Graduate student Michelle Tanney was also appointed to a seat for the College of Professional Studies. Tanney, a former chair of the Finance Committee, ran unopposed.

The Senate is not scheduled to meet again until the spring semester.