The Boston University Student Union General Assembly last night discussed, but did not vote on, two constitutional amendments that would clarify Union committee rules and adjust college and consortia representation.
The first amendment, authored by School of Management freshman Jessica Cohen, would clarify Article IV of the Constitution regarding committee process, according to Union Vice President Mark DiCristofaro.
“Since the new Student Union Constitution was created a few years ago, the Constitution verbiage about committees has been very basic,” the College of Communication junior said.
The amendment divides Article IV of the Constitution into five sections: committee purpose, formation process, committee makeup, committee chairpersons and committee reports.
If passed, DiCristofaro said, the amendment would require committee members to create a “transitional committee report” that will “advise the Executive Board, Advisory Council and future committee members on where to take the direction of the committee.”
The amendment will also allow committees to “start and dissolve at their preference,” according to DiCristofaro, instead of requiring committees to continue meeting until the end of the semester.
Under the proposed amendment, “committees may dissolve as deemed necessary by the committee chair and committee members with a simple majority vote by the committee, approval of the Executive [Board] and two-thirds majority vote by the General Assembly.”
The current Constitution language states a “simple majority” of the GA vote is required to create a new committee and states all committees “dissolve at the end of semester.”
College of Arts and Sciences junior Jesse Kramer also reintroduced an amendment to Article VII of the Constitution regarding proportional representation.
At an Oct. 30 meeting, the Union voted to divide the original amendment into three sections, so GA members could vote separately on whether to base representation on student populations in college governments, Residence Hall Associations and consortia. The Union voted to adopt proportional representation for RHAs but voted down amendments to create proportional representation for college governments and consortia.
Kramer reintroduced the amendment regarding college government proportional representation, saying, “This amendment is the same as last time.”
“One section is represented proportionally, and the other half is not, and there’s no sense of equity,” he said. “It almost seems logical for it to be the same.”
However, University Professors’ Program sophomore Andrew Smolenski said in order to create “equity,” the GA would also have to revote on the amendment regarding consortia.
“If the point is to make equity,” he said, “why are we only reintroducing one part of it instead of both? If you only vote on one, I don’t see the point.”º
CAS Forum President Jeremy Weldon said another vote on the amendment would not be fair because there are now additional RHA representatives in the Union.
“I think it’s unfair to revote because the RHAs now have more votes,” the CAS junior said.
DiCristofaro said the college government proportional representation amendment was reintroduced because he felt there was enough discussion about it among individual colleges.
“We’re hoping to get college governments to take 15 minutes [to discuss], because I’ve been hearing some great conversation about it,” he said.
The e-board also reintroduced Cohen as the nominee for the newly created historian position within the Union cabinet.
“We have found that these cabinet positions are working out very well,” DiCristofaro said, “although we’ve found there’s a lot of work that’s not getting done.”
The GA unanimously voted Cohen into the position, where she will be in charge of “solidifying” the Union’s history.
“Essentially, the main project would be a year-to-year project to create a book or binder of everything the Student Union accomplished in the year,” she said.
Cohen said she will not only document the current efforts of the Union but will also look in past Union files and compile information from previous committees.
The Union school spirit committee also requested a loan of $333.13 to advertise for the “BU athletic T-shirt design contest.” The GA unanimously voted to “loan” the money to the school spirit committee with the intention that it will be repaid after the T-shirts are sold.