Highlights of the Proposed Student Government Constitution

I. Major Structural Changes in the Proposed System

• A smaller, more focused, more representative Senate. Fifteen senators will be elected at large, making elections more competitive. Candidates may seek endorsements from organizations, dorms and co-ops, to be printed on the ballot. This gives each Senator a connection to a constituency while legitimizing their election by a vote of the entire student body. Each Senator will also have a clearly defined responsibility as an Officer or chair of an Advisory Council. Overall, the new Senate will focus more on coordinating and supporting the efforts of students on faculty committees and Advisory Councils, and lobbying for high-priority initiatives.

• Open faculty committee appointments. Senators will no longer dominate all committee seats, which will allow students with particular interests or expertise to participate in governance without being a Senator. Student committee members will coordinate their work through the Advisory Councils.

• Advisory Councils improve accessibility and proposal development. The proposed Constitution creates new organizations called Advisory Councils, which provide a forum for student committee members and other concerned students to work together on a focused set of issues. Most proposals to faculty committees and the administration will be developed in these groups, in which any student can be a member.

  For example, an `Academic Issues Advisory Council' would bring together the student members of the Educational Plans and Policies Committee, Distribution and Advising, Individual Majors, etc., as well as any students who wanted to lobby for new interdisciplinary programs like Asian American , Latino, or Cognitive Studies, for more emphasis on diversity in faculty hiring, for better advising, and so on. This structure enables Senators, committee members and student activists together to write proposals and lobby for them as a part of student government.

• Student Senate oversight of and accountability for student finances. The Student Finance Committee, a group of students appointed by the Senate to allocate the Activity Fee, has periodically faced attempts to impose greater control by administrative or faculty bodies. To ensure that oversight of the SFC remains with students and is exercised with restraint, the Constitution proposes that organizations may appeal their final SFC budget allocation to the Senate, if they can demonstrate that they have been treated in an unfair or arbitrary manner. This would be a rarely invoked but important safeguard.

• Strict standards of accountability for Senators and student committee members. Senators and Senate-appointed committee members must attend meetings or be removed from their position. Senators will also be removed for not holding regular dorm raps or office hours, and the Senate as a whole must regularly publicize its agenda, minutes and vote records. If enough students are unhappy with a Senator's performance, they can call a referendum to remove the Senator and hold a new election for the seat.

• Stipends for Senators. In the new system, Senators have significant responsibility and time-consuming duties. Every senator must be either an Officer or chair an Advisory Council, serve on the General Faculty (or College or Conservatory Faculty) and at least one faculty committee, and hold regular dorm raps and office hours. Any Senator who fails to do so will be removed and replaced with someone who is willing to do the work. A stipend would compensate Senators for a workload that is comparable to many work-study jobs, and would ensure that students with financial need would be able to run for Senate.

  - Written by Joel Whitaker