Following a series of last-minute decisions, the Board of Elections has decided to delay the student vote on a series of amendments proposed by members of the Student Council, one of which would abolish the BoE and set up a new body charged with running elections.
Under normal circumstances the amendments to the StuCo constitution would be presented as referendums on the next regular election date. Doing so would place these referendums on Thursday's election ballot.
As of Thursday morning, StuCo Executive President-elect, sophomore Atin Agarwal, had filed an appeal to have the vote held during the election, rather than later this semester.
But the BoE felt that submitting petitions with signatures from the required 15 percent of the student body on the night before class elections would prevent students from making well-informed decisions when voting. For this reason, voting on the amendments will be pushed back until a date yet to be determined.
BoE Co-Chair senior Michael Seibert, who called the move to abolish the BoE "antagonistic," said that the vote would likely be held prior to the end of the academic year, but could not confirm that it would not take place early next semester.
Voting in the class elections will run as usual on Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at various locations on campus.
In total, six amendments were proposed, all put forth by StuCo members. Five were packaged into one petition, while the amendment to abolish the BoE stood on its own.
If passed, the amendment to abolish the BoE would set up a new Committee on Student Elections to run all future elections.
The executive president of StuCo and the director of student involvement would provide managerial oversight of all CSE decisions.
StuCo Executive President-elect Atin Agarwal, a sophomore, commented that a history of problems led to his decision to author the amendment.
"In the past two years there have been problems with basically every election, and that's not acceptable," Agarwal said. "We've had several meetings with [the BoE], and basically there's been no change. This is a consistent problem and the solution, as we see it, is to abolish the BoE."
He added that he does not expect any immediate problems if the referendum is passed. "The next election won't take place until fall. Part of the amendment is that the new group's bylaws need to be written by September 1, 2005, so everything that needs to will be in place by then."
In the amendment's original draft, only the director of student involvement - currently Jeff Groden-Thomas - would supervise the actions of the CSE. According to Agarwal, Groden-Thomas recommended that the StuCo executive president serve as an additional source of oversight.
Groden-Thomas was not immediately available for comment.
Seibert said that the proposed amendment did not come as a shock to the BoE.
"Honestly, at this point it really doesn't mean anything. We're still going to run the election to the best of our ability. We certainly have a more antagonistic relationship with StuCo, and it has always been somewhat like this, though they rarely ever do anything to help us," Seibert said.
There have been instances of cooperation between the two organizations recently, but Seibert does not anticipate that the relationship will improve.
Seibert's co-chair, Jae Cho, added, "I don't mind the BoE being blamed for mishaps, but I really want everything to be fair. This amendment would give the president the power to influence the election. If members are re-elected, people are going to start asking questions."
He continued, "If it were up to me, I really have no problem not being on the BoE as long as everything can run smoothly. A lot of people think we're power-hungry, but we're not. We're mostly frustrated about students not showing up to vote."
Agarwal said that there are checks in place to prevent the StuCo president from exerting undue influence over the CSE. "This will all be specified in the bylaws, but the president is not allowed to be involved in any decisions that involve him. This way we'll prevent an obvious conflict of interest."
The other set of five amendments includes several significant changes to the StuCo constitution. If all five passed, StuCo would be empowered to change its constitution without having to present amendments for approval by the student body.
Another amendment would change the group's policy for filling vacancies. Currently, class presidents have the power to fill open positions in their delegations on their own. This new amendment would allow the entire class delegation to vote and fill vacancies.
Agarwal noted that a recent conflict in which Senior Class President Payal Patel appointed her roommate Michelle Lee to the class delegation was part of the reason this amendment was proposed by StuCo.
He added that the amendments were met with almost universal support within StuCo.
