By Erika Klimchak
Impeachment proceedings, apathy and scandal are reminiscent of 1974 national headlines describing the Watergate cover-up. Oddly, the same words are being used to justify a rewrite of the U of L Student Government Association’s constitution, established about 30 years ago.
According to Nathan Haney, SGA executive vice president and architect of the proposed changes to the constitution, “Our goal is to produce a better reputation for the Senate and SGA because as long I’ve been here there’s been a lot of apathy and bad publicity due to scandals.”
Haney maintained that the structure of last year’s constitution is backwards. In the previous constitution, the top four office-holders (president, executive vice president, academic vice president and services vice president) administered policies and procedures that the Senate passed.
Instead, “the Senate should make the decisions, and the top four should be there to okay the decisions.” Haney said he researched other colleges’ constitutions and conducted interviews with student government leaders, using examples from their constitutions and procedures for the proposed changes.
Michelle Grant, a former SGA supreme court justice, said the new constitution would also create a more formal committee structure.
“By having a more formalized committee structure in the SGA’s governing documents, there will be more consistency from year to year when the administrations change.”
Another change in Haney’s proposal would make the Senate more involved through the creation of a speaker to manage SGA meetings. The speaker would be elected by SGA members. Grant said the speaker elected to this position would need a strong background in parliamentary procedure.
Another addition to the new constitution is the Development Committee, which would oversee the Senate, the top four and all SGA organizations. The SGA would also have an Accountability Committee, “something we’ve lacked for a long time,” Haney said. Under the new constitution, the SGA would study proposed increases in tuition and fees to determine whether they are really needed.
“The new constitution will establish the Senate as an independent governing body, separate from the top four,” said Bill Brammell, SGA president.
Last year, the SGA impeached and conducted a hearing for removal of then-academic vice president Sarah Hester that ultimately ended in a vote against her removal from office.
When Haney was asked if this incident was the true catalyst for the constitution’s rewrite, he said, “This really had more to do with the process and less to do with the fact that she was impeached. There needs to be specific guidelines for the impeachment process.”
Under Haney’s proposed changes, any member of the SGA may submit a letter to the chair of the Accountability Committee stating grounds for an impeachment. The chair of that committee must convene the group within two weeks to hold a hearing to determine whether probable cause exists to impeach the SGA officer. At the hearing, the committee can hear testimony from witnesses.
In order for the new constitution to be approved, the changes must be presented to the executive board for review. The committee met Aug. 8 and voted to “table” discussion on the constitution until the next meeting.
If the executive committee approves the changes, they can recommend the new document to the Senate. The Senate can then call for a first reading of the by-laws.
The councils must vote in a two-thirds majority to ratify the constitution.
