While the ruling is still subject to approval from the Boston University administration, it is still an attempt by Student Government to extend their term for another semester despite the provisions under which they were elected.
All in all, this change is not something that should have been agreed upon by the SG mid-semester. The Senate, including the executive board, will not have to run for re-election in November as was agreed upon in February.
Although the election change was ruled unconstitutional, the Senate had the choice to vote to uphold the law. The members’ decision to strike it down deviates from their original commitment to serve for one semester.
Why did the SG think that now was an appropriate time to make the change? Why not after the November elections?
It is unfortunate that an institution that is supposed to represent BU students most likely did not consult them on whether or not SG President Dexter McCoy and his executive board should be allowed to continue another term without an election.
It would be interesting to see how students react to this ruling, if at all. Hopefully, they will call the ruling into question and demand their opinions be considered before such fundamental decisions are made. An apathetic student body would be just as upsetting, if not more upsetting, than the SG’s ruling.
We would hope that Student Government could hold itself accountable to the students by issuing some sort of an explanation. A vote to lengthen an officeholder’s term, after all, is not something that can be done a whim.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following editorial commenting on the amendment Student Government nullified incorrectly stated that members of the executive board voted to extend their term. The vote was presented by a Student Government member and voted upon by the senators present at the meeting. The vote was not to change the term during which Student Government members would serve, but on whether or not to reinstate the amendment establishing the calendar-year election cycle that was deemed unconstitutional. While voting down the unconstitutional amendment reverts the election timeline to the academic-year system, SG is still in deliberations as to what will happen with the upcoming election and therefore the term of the current executive board. The editorial was retracted in print on Oct. 18.
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