The first Undergraduate Student Government meeting of the fall 2013 semester involved many introductions, encouragements and explanations.

This year’s president, Adrian Miller, was introduced along with other members that will be a part of the council for the fall semester.

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Following introductions, Miller and others encouraged those in attendance to become a part of the council, or at least continue to attend the meetings in order to have a voice.

The fact that most senator seats remain open is a concern of the council, but Kirstie Rulel, a junior from Aviston studying computer science and a senator for Greek Life said low involvement seems normal for the beginning of the semester.

“It usually starts off pretty slow at the beginning of the year, but towards the middle we actually start getting our name out there,” she said.

There are 41 total senate seats and only six are filled.

The council showed how to become a senator step by step for anyone at the meeting interested. Information can be found at usg.rso.siu.edu.

David Lynch, a junior from Rockford studying political science and economics is the council’s Executive Assistant and said USG is trying to get more students involved.

“We’ve been doing a lot of marketing techniques,” Lynch said.

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He said USG will soon be going over ways to get their name out to the student body. They recently set up tables in the Student Center where they passed out flyers, but are going to try other approaches too.

Oliver Keys, a senior from East St. Louis studying automotive technology and the vice president of USG, said he is excited for the fall semester and wants to see things happen.

“We don’t just want to sit around in our office and rock back and forth, we actually want to see things happen,” said Keys.

Keys said USG has members on the executive board that are peer mentors and get to know the freshman through that. Keys said USG as a whole will work on ways to get this year’s large freshman class involved.