Student Union

JUSTIFICATION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

BLOCK FUNDING

Student Union is asking students to pass this amendment defining block funding to make, for the first time, the process official and clear. Block funding has been a Student Union practice for many years but has never been a part of our constitution or statutes, and rather has only been a part of the election rules as a very vague process. This definition of block funding changes the process in a few ways: 1) it now requires petitions have 900 rather than 600 signatures, 2) any student may submit a petition for block funding for any student initiative, 3) the petition may now be for either 1 or 2 years, instead of just 2.

SENATORS NEED NOT COMPLETE FULL TERM

This constitutional amendment is being paired with a set of amendments to the SU statutes. The end result will be, if this amendment passes, to allow SU legislators to stand for election even if they can only fulfill one complete semester of their term. This would mean that a Treasury Representative or Senator elected in March must be able to serve at least until the end of the next fall semester, in December. For a Senator elected in the fall, he or she must be able to serve until the end of the spring semester, in May. It has currently remained undecided by the Student Union whether to allow students to run from abroad. However statute amendments have passed allowing students to run in the fall who will be graduating in May, or any student who plans on going abroad for the last months of their term.

DEFINITION OF SU OFFICER

Student Union is asking students to pass this amendment which more clearly defines which positions constitute a “Student Union Office”, that is, a position that requires mutual exclusivity from other Student Union Offices for reasons of separation of powers. The Constitutional Council has often received grievances in the past asking for a ruling on specific offices which seem too innocuous to pose harm if an SU Officer were to hold that position concurrently with another. This definition clarifies those offices with enough responsibility and authority within the Student Union to require exclusivity. Among the ramifications of this definition are the two most important: 1) School Council Officers will no longer be Student Union Officers, and 2) Non-representative members to Treasury Committees will officially be considered SU Offices.