New constitution proposition would restructure StuCo, HOP

A group of five students, including senior Jenny Chiang, senior class President Stephen Goutman, sophomore April Land, senior Eric Leslie, and freshman class Representative Morgan McDonald, presented a newly proposed Student Council(StuCo) Constitution at this week's StuCo meeting. The proposed constitution restructures the positions of StuCo and the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP), and calls for a clear division between those who are responsible for policy issues and those responsible for social programming.

Currently, there are 29 members of StuCo, each with one vote. These members include five executive officers as well as six elected officers per class. StuCo also has four types of committees: standing, ad hoc, subcommittees and independent committees. The Board of Elections (BoE) and HOP are included in the last group.

Goutman explained that the proposed constitution creates a Student Council that is focused only on policy and dedicates the HOP to social programming. He said, "What we have now is six people elected per class who serve to do both policy and social programming. What we found is that oftentimes their dedication is lacking."

Under the proposed constitution, there would be 19 members of Student Council, including the Student Council Chair, the HOP Chair, the Student Activities Commission (SAC) Chair and four elected senators per class. The person who receives the most votes for senator in each class will become the class liaison to the administration.

In the proposal, there are three social programmers responsible for organizing class events and all the social programmers plan school-wide events. Officers in the HOP can appoint additional programmers by a majority vote. The HOP would also have direct control of funds for social programming.

Goutman explained that the HOP has a budget of $40,000, which will be raised next year. The HOP Chair is currently responsible for all social programming.

"We need to take the motivation and excitement of students who specifically can focus on social programming and let them serve in the HOP," said Goutman. He added that the change to HOP would be a very similar change to the creation of SAC. When SAC did not exist, Student Council was in charge of all the funds. Goutman said that that "the funds became such a major issue that it really detracted from what Student Council could do. So, SAC was created to work with all the student groups to create budgets. That is what we are doing with the HOP. We are giving Student Council members the opportunity to really dig into social programming."

The proposed constitution does not make any significant changes to SAC. However, if the treasurer resigns or is impeached, one of the SAC liaisons would become the treasurer instead of allowing anyone to serve as treasurer.

Chiang explained that each class would have elected officers in the HOP. She felt that there was a level of accountability for the officers if they are elected and added that many students complain about the lack of social events on campus. She felt that social programming should be shifted to the HOP where it belongs.

In December, several proposals were made to change the Student Council constitution. Goutman and Student Council President Anuj Mittal proposed changes for the positions in Student Council and the HOP as well as a division of responsibilities for policy issues and social programming. However, there was not enough support within Student Council to make any changes to the constitution.

The five students started to create the revised constitution in February because they felt a need to improve Student Council. They recently got signatures of five percent of the student body on a petition. The proposal can be passed by a majority vote for a student referendum. However, they have made changes in the past few days and will be starting another petition within the next few days.

Land said, "I have no doubt that students that will vote for it. It took us a couple of hours to get a few hundred signatures-who would turn down the opportunity to have a better social life and an environment where you feel like you are a part of the campus?"

Some members of Student Council have different views of Student Council. Senior Vice President Meredith Price said: "the HOP has not been as strong as we would like it to be. A split between social programming and policy could possibly create a chance for better social programming which is what we want."

Fesche said, "I think a lot has gotten accomplished this year. It's really about the people on Student Council. If people are motivated, then a lot will get done no matter what."

The last substantial changes made to the constitution occurred in 1997. Goutman said: "There has been no real major change of structure like we've done now. What we've done basically is to change from a high school model of student government to a more mature model of student government." He explained that the Student Council is an organization for the student body and not for the members of Student Council. According to Goutman, if the members of the student body want to change the constitution, then they should be able to express that will.

If the referendum passes in this month's elections, next year would be a year of transition between constitutions. Since students would already have run for office based on the positions available under the current constitution, reorganization of StuCo's officer system could not be completed until elections in the spring of 2003.

-Staff Writer Marina Koestler contributed to this report.