The newly revised constitution of the Student Government Association, which faced debate during its creation, has now encountered further controversy. The revised constitution was intended to go to the Subcommittee on Student Affairs, which would review the document and include it on the agenda of the University Council.
A majority of the members of the subcommittee must be present for review. This would represent nine of the committee’s 17 members. Because of scheduling conflicts, however, the committee will not hear the constitution in time to include it in the agenda of the University Council’s last meeting.
SGA Chairman Joshua Ronk said he is disappointed the subcommittee “can’t find the time to put (the constitution) on the agenda.” Ronk said he e-mailed Carmen Bell, a subcommittee chairwoman, shortly after the election results were made official. He requested the matter be heard before the committee and that it be placed on the University Council’s agenda.
Bell said she has attempted to schedule a meeting several times since April 10, but scheduling conflicts have prevented a majority of the committee from meeting.
“There was a good effort on my part,” Bell said.
Bell said, however, that e-mail correspondence may not have been the most effective means of communication because of the issue’s time sensitivity.
SGA Sen. Jonathan Ward said this represents a “disenfranchisement of students.”
SGA President Jibran Muhammad said this issue comes as no surprise because there is a process for constitutional approval that everyone was aware of. According to Muhammad, if the University Council does not approve the constitution, it cannot go into effect next year.
The current constitution gives no instruction on how it can be replaced with new legislation. SGA Sen. Tavarris Spinks said for this reason, the new constitution is technically an amendment and University Council approval is not required.
Article eight, section three of the current constitution addresses amendments. This section of the constitution states that once an amendment is proposed and voted on by the Senate, the last step for amendment approval is a vote from the student body. The new constitution was approved 73.5 percent of the students who voted in the SGA presidential election on March 26. The results were made official on March 27.
Gabriel Walker, the SGA president-elect, said if the University Council cannot approve the document in time, it would be beneficial to spend the fall semester working on the bylaws to make the constitution as good as it can be.
“If the constitution really is a good one, it will be just as good next year,” Walker said.
Spinks said, “(Walker’s) interpretation of how the process works is entirely misguided. It seems to me that those who don’t like it want to slow it down.”
During his campaign for SGA president, Walker said he did not originally support the new constitution. According to Walker, however, his personal positions have no bearing on the issue. Although the approval process is not laid out in the constitution, Walker said the process was presented to the SGA by SGA advisers.
Raymond Barefoot, chair for the Committee on Student Affairs, has called an emergency meeting to address the issue on April 27 at 2:30 p.m., 30 minutes before the University Council’s last scheduled meeting.