Students participated in a continuing council discussion over President Gabe Rose’s senate proposal during the undergraduate student government’s meeting at the Northwest Campus Auditorium on Tuesday.
To increase student attendance, the Undergraduate Students Association Council, which usually holds its council meeting in Kerckhoff Hall, held a town hall meeting on the Hill. About 25 students attended, including many staff members from several councilmembers’ offices.
Despite additional students’ comments and questions, the council did not reach any final decisions regarding the contested senate proposal. In its current form, the proposal would create a new legislative student senate that would overhaul the existing legislative body, which consists of executive officers, commissioners and general representatives.
Rose and Finance Committee Chair Parsa Sobhani, the originators and proponents of the senate system, said the legislative restructuring will allow executive officers and commissioners to efficiently run their respective offices and focus on more programming.
Concerns arose during the meeting regarding the feasibility and effectiveness of overhauling the current legislative system.
The council has yet to further discuss, finalize and approve the senate proposal by a two-thirds council majority. If the council approves the amendment, the proposal would be included on the ballot prior to spring elections.
Undergraduate students would then vote on the proposal during elections held sixth week.
If the amendment passes with two-thirds student majority, the newly installed USAC council would implement those changes for the following election in spring 2009, unless the council contests the amendment and officially proposes a return to the original constitution for student approval.
Rose said that during his term as president, he found the USAC legislative structure inefficient and illogical and started pursuing a new amendment for council approval.
“This system is good, but I would be hard-pressed to agree that it is perfect,” he said.
Rose said the 20 new senators would simply legislate.
Several student questions arose during the town hall meeting regarding senatorial elections and possible office space changes.
One student asked whether senators will be elected or appointed. Rose said all senators, in addition to commissioners and executive officers, would be elected by the undergraduate student body.
A representative from the student group Queer Alliance voiced concern about senators possibly ousting student groups from office space.
Rose said the 20 senators would not necessitate 20 individual offices. In addition, he said there would be no general representatives, so USAC could continue to utilize vacant office space.
After the brief meeting, the council returned to senate discussion, and many councilmembers brought up concerns such as the timeliness and feasibility of the proposal.
Jesse Melgar, external vice president, said he does not feel council is prepared to overhaul the current government system, especially at the end of the school year. He said he thinks the council is rushing without a specific goal in mind.
Melgar also said he has had discussions with other external vice presidents from UC Berkeley and UC Merced, and they shared similar sentiments of unhappiness with their senate systems’ ineffectiveness.
Community Service Commissioner Stephanie Chang said she talked with a former councilmembers and heard that some of them decided not to pursue a similar senate proposal in years past.
General Representative Michelle Lyon said councilmembers should not be so quick to shut down the proposal before further research and discussion can be done.
“We should not be so afraid to change,” Lyon said.
Rose said he was worried that councilmembers would be opposed to any proposed change.
At the end of the discussion, Rose said council is trying to tease out the different views and problems with the proposal. The council tentatively plans on making a decision on the senate proposal by fifth week.