Hoya Staff Writer Friday, September 15, 2006

Undaunted by a slew of failed proposals over the past few years, GUSA leaders hope in the coming weeks to do what the past two Student Association administrations could not – significantly amend their constitution. If passed, the amendment would scrap the Assembly in its current form and replace it with a GUSA Senate. Unlike the Assembly, in which each class elects four at-large members, the Senate would be composed of 35 representatives, each elected from an electorate of around 200 students living in the same area of campus. GUSA President Twister Murchison (SFS ’08) said the amendment would correct an imbalance of power in GUSA that has left the Assembly ineffective in recent years. The amendment “explicitly creates an interaction between two branches of government,” Murchison said. The proposal specifies a committee structure for the Senate, which includes a Finance and Appropriations Committee that would have sole power to appropriate the Student Activity Fund, which is divided among student groups on campus. That power is currently exercised by the GUSA Funding Board, which is composed of both students and administrators from the Student Activities Commission, the Media Board and several other advisory groups. The GUSA President is the nominal chair of the Funding Board, but has not exercised that authority in recent administrations, according to Martha Swanson, director of student programs. Swanson said that she was not certain whether GUSA even has the authority to change the rules for funding allocation and that it was premature to discuss the full implementation of the amendment. “Nobody knew anything about it until about a week ago,” she said. “I don’t like the idea of doing things quickly.” She added that, even if the amendment made in onto the ballot and was approved next month, the new appropriations committee would not necessarily take over the power of the purse. “We’d need to have some thoughtful conversations,” she said. The Assembly voted 9-2 to endorse the proposal. Although the change would eliminate the Assembly, a grandfather clause would allow all of its current twelve members to retain their seats for the year in the new Senate in the districts where they live. Murchison said that no two current members live in the same district. GUSA must now obtain petition signatures supporting the amendment from one-fifth of the student body – around 1,500 students in total – to place the measure on a ballot as a referendum, which would need to be approved by a vote of the student body to take effect. Murchison and Eden Schiffmann (COL ’08), his chief of staff, said that they are still reviewing the amendment with administrators around campus, but hope to hold the referendum vote in early October so they can elect the rest of the new Senate shortly afterwards. Holding such a vote would advance the current proposal further than past attempts by GUSA to revise its constitution.