The Student Government Association (SGA) met Tuesday to vote on a possible change to an election rule that was passed last March during the overhaul of the Council on Student Elections' (CSE) constitution.
The SGA's Appointments and Evaluations Committee questioned the constitutionality of an election rule that stated that potential freshman senators had to collect 200 signatures in order to be considered for candidacy during the class elections, while upperclassmen only had to collect 100.
The issue raised was whether this requirement is in line with the SGA constitution, which states that Hopkins undergraduates "have equal rights as students under this Constitution, as do persons who may be extended such status by the Student Government Association."
The committee proposed lowering the number of signatures needed by freshman candidates to 100, in order to make the requirement equal across grades.
Viann Nguyen, senior senator, explained that "we didn't want the freshmen to feel inferior [for having to get more signatures]."
SGA Vice President Evan Lazerowitz stated that the committee felt that "having different requirements [for different grades] was not in line with the spirit of [the SGA constitution]."
This proposal was brought to a vote and did not pass. Nine senators voted against the change, while eight senators voted for it.
The SGA requires a two-thirds majority from the Senate in order to amend any CSE rules.
The only way the rule can now be amended is if a freshman feels strongly enough to bring a case up to the judiciary, the final arbiter of the constitutionality of SGA rules and procedures.
However, final approval of SGA Judiciary members will not be completed for a few weeks.
The original rationale behind the increased signature requirement for freshmen was to give candidates an incentive to meet as many freshmen as they could.
Also, "equal rights" could be interpreted in different ways.
Class of 2012 Senator Stephanie Suser explained that equal rights could still apply to different signature requirements due to the fact that freshmen have more opportunities due to the ease of going to the freshmen dining hall and on-campus housing to solicit signatures.
Upperclassmen who live off-campus do not have equal opportunity in this regard.
Sophomore President Ben McGuiggan, who was a candidate as a freshman, supported this view and voted against the rule change.
"It's a good way for freshmen candidates to get to know their peers as well as for [voters] to personally meet their candidates," McGuiggan said. He also mentioned that this could increase election turnout.
Junior Senator Daniel de Leon voted for the rule change, supporting the opinion that a higher signature stipulation for freshmen is unfair and in conflict with the "equal rights" section of the SGA constitution.
The unprecedented size of the freshman class this year is also a factor in the decision.
"You have to look at proportionality. Our class when we came was much smaller than this year's freshman class. This should be taken into account," Senior Class President Affan Sheikh said.
Many senators believed that the higher signature requirement would, as Suser put it, "weed out people who are not committed," by requiring more effort on the part of the candidate. Junior Class President Nick Gilson, however, argued that "anyone who is getting 100 signatures is serious enough to begin with."
