The undergraduate student government tabled a vote Tuesday on constitutional changes proposed by the Facilities commissioner.
The changes, proposed by Galen Roth during an Office Space Allocation Committee meeting on last Friday, would have affected how student groups would apply for office spaces.
Among the proposed changes were limiting the office space allocation procedure to once every two years and raising the number of years student groups had to be registered with the Center for Student Programming from three to five years.
During the council meeting on Tuesday, General Representative Natalie Gonzalez made it known to USAC that any bylaw changes could not be made without an up-to-date Constitution.
The student government has been operating without an updated Constitution since 2005.
Academic Affairs Commissioner Jeremiah Garcia said during the meeting that Student Services offered to look through past meeting agendas and record any bylaw changes made during Council meetings toward an updated Constitution.
Garcia, who supported Roth’s recommendations, said any bylaw changes were legal if a stipulation was added saying any conflict changes would be discussed on Council.
“An overwhelming majority would have voted through the changes,” Garcia said.
“We just wanted to tie any loose ends or uncertainty,” he added.
He added that the issue was being looked into to appease “some people on Council who potentially might object without the Constitution being 100 percent up to date.”
The debate in Council on both the content of the changes and the procedure lasted two hours. General Representative Monica Kohles, along with her Bruins United affiliated colleague Gonzalez expressed dissatisfaction with the process.
“We shouldn’t have these changes in the first place,” Kohles said.
She also raised the issue that any changes made to the office space guidelines, which are separate from the bylaws, could not be made without a commissioner, which currently is vacant.
The five-year minimum requirement for office space qualification was a source of contention among the two slates, because one party claimed it was unfair toward student groups while the other said the new law ensures stability.
“This will eliminate potential groups from applying,” Kohles said, adding that the original three-year requirement was satisfactory in measuring stability.
Garcia disagreed with the statement Kohles made.
“(The changes) are ensuring that they are stable groups and are functioning properly,” Garcia said, adding that it would be unfair for unstable groups to receive office spaces when other groups are without one.
Another change to the bylaws that was raised was the new two-year office space allotments, closing the allocation process every other year.
The issue of office space allocation was tabled until next week to allow Student Services to gather more information about the bylaws and to ensure a more clear application.
According to Garcia, he and Roth will work toward updating the Constitution during the week as well.
Garcia alleges that Council last year operated without proper bylaws and recognition of the constitution.
Former Bruins United councilmember Clinton Jang disagreed.
“We stuck to the constitution to the best of our abilities ,” Jang said.