Honor Committee members met with Student Council last night to discuss how the Committee may bring referenda before the students for a vote. A dispute over deadlines for voting on referenda has resulted in further postponement of the Committee's attempts to send its latest referendum to the student body.
If passed by students, the Committee's first referendum would remove seriousness as a consideration in honor cases involving academic cheating. The Committee passed the referendum last Sunday - in time to be put on Council's spring ballot, according to Council's constitution.
But according to the Committee's own constitution, referenda must wait at least two weeks before being voted on by students. Still, the Committee asked Council to hold a special election for the referendum. But during Sunday's Committee meeting and again last night, Council members expressed reluctance to hold a special election.
Some Council members said holding a special election would violate Council's constitution, which states that "Council shall hold a referendum not later than the next Council election for which the applicable deadlines for petitions ... have been met by the sponsors."
Council members said the deadline for submitting referenda was Friday. The Committee could not put its referendum on the ballot because two weeks had not passed since its proposal.
Council Executive Vice President Ronnie Washington said Council's "Elections Committee imposed time constraints which all other organizations abided by. The Committee was made aware of the deadline and they missed it. If the issue were that pressing [the Committee] would have met the deadline."
Other Council members said holding a special election would subject Council to an unlimited number of requests by other student groups to hold special elections for referenda, and that this practice would exhaust the electorate and shrink the already low number of voters.
Committee Chairman Hunter Ferguson said the Committee missed the deadline for several reasons. He said the Committee was not ready to send the referendum to students when the Committee's deadline ran out, and the Committee wanted more members present at that meeting before voting. He added that the deadline was not made clear to all Committee members.
Carter Williams, Committee vice chairman for investigations, said he will propose a clarification of the Committee's bylaws at Sunday's Committee meeting. This clarification will reassert the Committee's ability to hold its own referendum election whenever it sees fit. Traditionally, Council runs referenda from other student groups during its elections.
"I feel that as an honor representative the Student Council calendar should not supercede my ability to bring important issues to the student body," said Peter Leary, Committee vice chairman for education.
Council promised to decide whether holding a special election for the Committee would be constitutionally sound. If Council decides holding a special election is unconstitutional it will vote on whether to support an election held by the Committee.
The Committee also is looking into putting another constitutional change to referendum vote. This Sunday the Committee will vote on whether to send a referendum to students which would add two additional Committee seats for the College.
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