New USGA constitution eliminates positions in favor of efficiency
Brendan Meighan
Issue date: 4/22/05 Section: News
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The Undergraduate Student Government Association conducted an election April 18-22 to ratify a revision of its constitution which provides some major changes in the structure of the student government and the way it conducts its daily business.
Many of the current members of the USGA felt that the current government was too large and inefficient. "Simply put the proposed constitution makes for a more organized and smaller government - many felt the old structure was too large, contained many positions that were not serving students and was a structure that didn't make sense," USGA President John Dougherty said, "there were officers that didn't have much of a work load, we felt that class senators was one section that needed to be cut, not because the people in those roles now weren't good people, but the position itself wasn't needed. Very rarely is there a 'class issue' that cannot be handled by a Student Life or Academic senator/committee."
The new constitution will reduce the USGA leadership from 35 students to 23. Four of the five vice president positions will be eliminated, along with the Parliamentarian and the Speaker of the Senate. In addition to this, all business items will be delegated by the remaining vice president to the Academics and Administration Assembly, the Student Life Assembly, or the Government Operations Assembly. The Academics and Administration Assembly represent students by their major, the Student Life Assembly represent each student by their activities and the Government Operations Assembly handle internal business concerns. These changes are being made with the intention that the new government will have more time and resources to focus on the students because it will be spending fewer on itself.
"I am optimistic about the new structure, as I feel it will allow us to spend our time working for students instead of getting bogged down with internal affairs," Micah Garnett, author of the new constitution and current Senator at Large, said.
Many of the current members of the USGA felt that the current government was too large and inefficient. "Simply put the proposed constitution makes for a more organized and smaller government - many felt the old structure was too large, contained many positions that were not serving students and was a structure that didn't make sense," USGA President John Dougherty said, "there were officers that didn't have much of a work load, we felt that class senators was one section that needed to be cut, not because the people in those roles now weren't good people, but the position itself wasn't needed. Very rarely is there a 'class issue' that cannot be handled by a Student Life or Academic senator/committee."
The new constitution will reduce the USGA leadership from 35 students to 23. Four of the five vice president positions will be eliminated, along with the Parliamentarian and the Speaker of the Senate. In addition to this, all business items will be delegated by the remaining vice president to the Academics and Administration Assembly, the Student Life Assembly, or the Government Operations Assembly. The Academics and Administration Assembly represent students by their major, the Student Life Assembly represent each student by their activities and the Government Operations Assembly handle internal business concerns. These changes are being made with the intention that the new government will have more time and resources to focus on the students because it will be spending fewer on itself.
"I am optimistic about the new structure, as I feel it will allow us to spend our time working for students instead of getting bogged down with internal affairs," Micah Garnett, author of the new constitution and current Senator at Large, said.
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