Student Council created an ad hoc committee last night that will review the organization's constitution in an effort to reduce confusion and design more concise bylaws that effectively correspond with the constitution.
Council's previous executive board drew up and gained Council approval of the current constitution last semester. The constitution was then approved by a University-wide referendum in March, resulting in changes regarding who is able to vote during Council meetings, how Council's executive vice president is chosen, and adding a requirement that all representatives serve on the Appropriations Committee. The former executive board did not design a new corresponding set of bylaws at the time.
College Graduate Rep. Tom Bryan, co-sponsor of the bill to create the committee, said the lack of corresponding bylaws for the new constitution has "led to all sorts of problems and vague ideas about what Council is supposed to be doing."
Bryan cited misunderstandings about the proper way of handling space allocations as an example of such confusion.
According to Vice President for Administration Jack Wilson, the decision to create new bylaws for the new constitution occurred last spring after it become apparent that aspects of the new constitution conflicted with the current bylaws."We talked about it near the end of last year ... We were following the old bylaws as best we could and we realized that the new constitution and the bylaws didn't mesh well," Wilson said.
Bryan said the committee will also address confusion caused by the new constitution since its passage last spring. Bryan said much of the confusion was caused by the lack of time the previous board gave Council to review the changes that were made. The revised constitution was introduced to Council members a week prior to the deadline to submit election referenda, according to Bryan.
"In the new constitution, there are a lot of positive things, but there are a lot of things that flew under the radar that we need to look more closely at," Bryan said.
Bryan gave the example of a situation last semester having to do with the constitutionality of the position of a representative from the School of Continuing and Professional Studies. The situation dealt with who was qualified to hold the position of Council representative. The new constitution defined the qualifications of a representative to include "full-time" student status, although SCPS students are part-time students. The situation was later resolved by the addition of bylaws affirming the SCPS representative's position on Council.
Bryan said because so many things seemed to have been changed in the constitution without full attention from Council, the creation of the committee seemed necessary.
"One or two amendments [to the constitution] you could forgive the [previous] student leadership," Bryan said. "But shortly after it was introduced, the more it become apparent that a lot was being changed and that we didn't understand the changes. So now we have to go back and do the job that should have been done last semester."
Council President Lauren Tilton emphasized the purpose of the committee is to create new bylaws while also looking for areas in the constitution that may be too specific or may create problems in the future.
"In light of [creating] the new bylaws, the committee is going to look at updating the parts of the constitution that are too specific," Tilton said.
Tilton noted, for example, that the constitution is too specific in listing the names of committees.
"Committee names should never be in a constitution; it doesn't allow changes" to them, Tilton said.
Bryan said the committee will also discuss whether portions of the constitution should be discussed by the whole Council and be brought before the student body for consideration in a spring referendum.
The committee will be comprised of eight members. Wilson will serve as chair of the committee, while other members will include Vice President for Organizations Catherine Tobin, Executive Vice President Melissa Warnke, and representatives Tom Bryan, Andrea Diamond and Sterling Elmore. Legislative Affairs Committee co-chair Todd Eley and Council Parliamentarian Chris Alexander will also serve on the committee.
According to legislation, conflicts between the current bylaws and constitution will be dealt with by the EVP as they relate to representatives, and by the president in regard to other policies. Rulings by either officer in the future may be appealed to the Rules and Ethics Board, which has not yet been created.
The committee expects to present its findings by the end of the semester so Council will have adequate time to look over the results before they are approved in the spring, Wilson said.
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