SG rejects Constitutional Reform Committee, but it’s too early for E-Board to give up

After an hour-long discussion at its meeting Monday evening, the Boston University Student Government Senate rejected an amendment to reinstate the Constitutional Reform Committee.

The CRC, proposed by SG President Jake Brewer two weeks ago, aimed to function as an umbrella committee that reforms SG’s constitution without the influence of interest groups, The Daily Free Press reported on Oct. 18.

The Senate voted against the amendment with 17 nays, two yea’s and two abstentions.

Some senators, such as College of Engineering Sen. Nehemiah Dureus, said time used on the CRC could instead be directed toward addressing the needs of the student body.

“I didn’t join Senate to work on a constitution,” Dureus, a sophomore, said. “I joined to solve student issues.”

Prior to the vote on the CRC amendment, a motion to alter a section of the CRC amendment was put forth. The motion would have removed the four subcommittees from the CRC to instead create a large body that would focus on the constitutional issues. Certain senators, however, said this would prevent the committee’s effort to address certain specific issues.

This proposed amendment to remove subcommittees failed with nine yea’s, nine nays and three abstentions.

Although the CRC amendment itself ultimately did not pass, Brewer said he and the rest of the Executive Board are determined to reform the constitution.

“This proposal was kind of E-Board’s olive branch to the Senate to get involved with the process,” Brewer, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “They voted it down, and so now what we’re going to do is get 1,000 [signatures] and make a new constitution.”

Brewer discussed his own determination to reform the constitution.

“The constitution will be fixed at the end of the year without the Senate,” he said. “It’s not over.”

Aside from the voting regarding CRC, the Senate tabled an amendment on the Judicial Commission — if the amendment passes, it will require the vote of more than 51 percent of judicial commissioners to pass a motion, rather than the two-thirds required now.

Three senators were also unanimously voted into chair positions: Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Sen. Nikita Varman was voted to be the chair of the Rules Committee, College of General Studies Sen. Vaishnavi Kothapalli was voted to become the Student Affairs Committee chair and CAS Sen. Zachary Treichel was voted to be the Senate vice chair.

Academic Affairs Committee Chair Hamilton Millwee proposed a budget increase for student care packages during the finals’ study period. The Senate voted unanimously to increase funding from $3,351 to $3,500.

After the meeting, SG Senate Chair Daniel Collins said he thought the Senate meeting was a successful experience.

“There was really good debate going on,” he said. “Everyone was active, and [there] seemed to be a lot of passion.”

Several senators said they had mixed feelings on how to best improve the constitution — Kothapalli, a sophomore and a CGS senator, said he agrees partially with what CRC proposes, especially the part that would increase students’ participation in SG’s decision-making process.

“I personally don’t know about the old constitution,” he said. “From what I’ve read and heard, it is terrible, so I agree it should be reformed.”

Malek Nakfoor, a sophomore and Questrom School of Business senator, voted against the CRC proposal, but said the constitution should still be improved upon.

“It should not be completely deleted and worked from scratch,” Nakfoor said. “We can always improve it and work with what we have seeing. [The fact] SG has been run quite well over the past years meaning that constitution cannot be that bad.”