Voting on revised SGA constitution postponed

The Student Government Association has postponed the ratification of their newly-revised constitution after a student filed a complaint with the judicial branch. A hearing has been scheduled for Friday, Feb. 6 to address the situation.

Joseph Anderson, a bioinformatics major, said that in a time where VCU is already struggling with transparency, he was shocked that the SGA would give students only 72 hours to become aware of, review and vote on the new SGA constitution.

Anderson said he was disheartened at the fact the SGA would not take advantage of the chance to “dispel the air of secrecy.” He said the efforts to ratify the constitution within only 72 hours was irresponsible.

Although Anderson says he believes the changes to the constitution remove the system of checks and balances within the SGA, senate chairman Joshua Ronk said the changes will help improve efficiency with the SGA. Improvements include cutting $10,000 out of the SGA budget and roughly seven positions.

Anderson filed the grievance on Feb. 2, after attending the SGA town hall meeting. He received a response from the chief justice of the SGA, Kadie Chandler. Anderson said Chandler was insistent on going through with the elections. However, a hearing was scheduled, and Chandler then removed herself from the case.

“The point was just to stall and raise the profile (of the constitution),” Anderson said.

Anderson said he would be satisfied to see more publicity for the constitution, including flyers, a mention in the VCU TelegRAM, and a mass e-mail to the student body.
“It just seems so secretive,” Anderson said. “It gives off the air of trouble.”

Voting on the new constitution will resume once the hearing is complete. Ronk hopes voting will take place next week. In the meantime, Ronk said the SGA will be making efforts to publicize the new constitution and offer opportunities for input from the student body. The voting process must be complete by March 5, when it is set to go before the university council. If the constitution has not yet been ratified at that point, it will not go into effect until after next year.

Reuban Rodriguez, associate vice provost and dean of student affairs, said the SGA has been talking about a forming a new constitution since he began working at VCU five years ago.

A committee was recently formed and met to revise the existing constitution in November of the 2008-2009 academic year. The SGA sought out Rodriguez as an advisor to help form the constitution, as he was instrumental in forming the previous one.

Rodriguez said he maintains a hands-off approach, advising the students on issues concerning logistics and university process rather than content.

“It’s (the constitution) what they want to have and they want to see accomplished,” Rodriguez said.

Ronk says the constitution, which has been revised by the SGA on four separate occasions, will help the SGA run more smoothly to better serve the student body.