Editorial: The constitution strikes back

If there has been one recurring theme to the last few years of recurring problems for Student Senate, it’s been the AU Student Senate Constitution.

No document has aroused more passions, delayed more events and hindered the general happiness of the student population than this document. Consider that while you're just trying to find the Constitution on the Alfred website (and also when you've found that its out of date).

After all, isn’t it just a bunch of words on a piece of paper? And isn’t this document supposed to make everyone’s life easier by acting as a governing document for how meetings are run, how changes are made and how money should be distributed?

Instead, many anecdotes can be found in the pages of Student Senate history about constitutional issues within Student Senate.

For example, students who have been involved in clubs long enough will remember the delay in fund distribution in 2007 after the constitution refused to allow the vice president to remain in her position after the president was suspended due to petit larceny charges. She would have to resign if she didn’t ascend to the presidency.

A constitutional amendment had to be written to accommodate the vice president’s desire to remain in her position. The discussion preceding the amendment’s passage delayed an election for a new president, and therefore the distribution of funds into club accounts.

In the most recent case, the constitution failed to tell us constitutionally devoted students who should ensure the oversight of campus elections. There was some vague language possibly tying the secretary, publicity chair or vice president to such oversight, but no responsibilities were explicitly stated.

Of course, our first suggestion, in accordance to the constitution, is to propose that “an ad-hoc committee entitled the Constitution Rules Committee” be formed to review this issue for one week so that the findings can be presented to the Student Senate Executive Board for one-third approval and then ratified by the majority of the Student Senate body (hint).

The constitution, after all, is a living document, and like the American constitution, it needs an amendment or two every once in awhile to keep it relevant.

Our second suggestion: If something’s not explicitly stated, and you are in a position of power, take the initiative anyway and fix the bureaucratic problems later. It will make everyone’s life just a little bit easier.