Just one Vanderbilt Student Government senate position of seven, that of Peabody senator, remains contested as the Tuesday elections approach.

Student Government Association Attorney General Elizabeth Scott said many candidates left the race because they changed their positions or received other appointed positions within VSG.

Student council elections will be held Tuesday as well, deciding council positions for all four undergraduate schools. The Peabody council president and engineering council president races are also uncontested.

VSG Speaker of the Senate Jared Anderson said he had hoped the senate seats would be more contested but does not think the lack of candidates reflects poorly upon VSG.

"For the first time in who knows how many years, every position in the student Senate will be filled," he said. "Furthermore, we have many candidates who are returning from this past year's senate, council representatives who are running for council president, and committee members and co-chairs who are running for senate as well."

SGA President Boone Lancaster said higher quality candidates are running for positions this year, but it is true that the numbers are smaller than usual for the senate race.

"While it would have been ideal to see more people answer the call to represent their fellow students, it is clear that those individuals who did (decide to run for office) have the drive and dedication to fulfill the new increased roles of the VSG senate," Lancaster said.

In the new structure of VSG, senators will hold much more importance than SGA senators, with each VSG senator taking on the commitment of a current SGA vice president, Anderson said.

Anderson said he expects an experienced VSG senate that will be able to energetically pursue student interests.

"The biggest difference and advantage of the new senate will be that it is a smaller, more potent group of student leaders who will be able to bring a new focus and drive to the VSG senate," Lancaster said.

With a smaller group, the accountability of each of the members is higher than ever, he said.

While Anderson said there are a number of reasons that senate candidates decided to run for other positions, he said the "intense time commitment" required may be the main justification, as "positions in VSG are taking on a lot more importance than they had previously under SGA and Interhall."

Anderson said other reasons for the decrease in candidates include the fact that some former senators were more interested in the administrative areas of student government, such as publicity and finance.

He also said he thinks many would-be candidates have opted to run as dorm presidents in the fall.

With the election of the new senate, Anderson said that, as speaker, he plans to pursue different initiatives to make the current body the most effective student senate in the history of student government at Vanderbilt.

"I want to increase the transparency of the senate, increase the interaction between senators and the student body, and ultimately strengthen the voice of students on this campus," he said.