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USG constitutional amendments see second delay

Nate Brown was a busy man Wednesday night.

Between keeping dueling senators at bay, conducting the meeting without the aid of President Tequia Hicks and attempting to revamp the entire constitution, Brown, the Undergraduate Student Government vice president, had his hands full.

After tabling six amendments that would drastically change the USG constitution at the Sept. 22 senate meeting, the body was to vote on changes Wednesday.

However, the Internal Affairs Committee chairwoman and other members were not present to give a report on what they discussed at their meeting.

The IAC is responsible for discussing issues such as constitutional amendments before senate meetings, but poor attendance from committee members Wednesday led to discrepancy on what course of action to take.

One amendment would reverse a controversial decision made in the spring prohibiting officers of Registered Student Organizations from serving on the Executive Branch, the Judicial Board, the IAC and the Finance Committee. The amendment was intended to prevent conflicts of interest.

"No matter what you're in or what you're a part of, you're going to have special interest, but you should know better than that," Senator Dipali Patel said.

Patel was removed last year from the Finance Committee because of the new stipulation and was one of two senators to draft and introduce the proposed amendment Wednesday.

The other senator, Natalie Pereles, who helped write the amendment, expressed her disappointment for the second delay because of the IAC's incomplete attendance. She said the two currently vacant spots on the Finance Committee should not be filled until the amendment could be voted on.

"It needed to get done and it didn't, and it's very irresponsible," Pereles said. "It was supposed to be [voted on] last week."

Some senators supported voting to pass the amendments at Wednesday's meeting instead of waiting for the IAC report, but others urged patience.

Senator Brad Fisher said he strongly supported voting immediately.

"We've read it. We know what's in here. Do you want to be working on this in December when we have real stuff to do?" he said.

Student Trustee Ed Ford, who helped draft the changes in the constitution, disagreed with Fisher.

"As we saw at the first meeting, there were a lot of questions- questioning down to the last comma," Ford said "But that's good. That's your job. What I think we should do is get to work on the issues and let the constitution thing take its time."

The five remaining amendments would modify the five articles of the USG constitution. One such change would eliminate the policy of electing senators by geographical area as well as college of study and would only rely on the latter. The limit on seats per college would also be removed.

The amendment requesting the five articles' revisions reads, "The USG constitution has grown irrelevant and out of date." A marked copy highlighting proposed changes and omissions was distributed to senators at the last meeting.

A special sub-committee will assemble before the Oct. 13 senate meeting to discuss the six amendments.

Brown said at the end of Wednesday's meeting, the deadline for voting on the amendment was still unsettled.

"What they did is get phone numbers, names, and emails for people who were interested," Brown said. "Last night I wanted them to say 'Okay, this committee will dissolve in two weeks or four weeks' so we could have a definite time table, but as of now, until they meet, the constitution sits in committee."

 

 

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