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The Rice Thresher
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by Mark Berenson Thresher Editorial Staff Hanszen College juniors Jamie Lisagor and Gavin Parks announced they are planning to run together for president of the Student Association at the meeting Monday. The announcement emerged from a discussion about whether the SA Constitution allows co-presidents. SA Parliamentarian Rudy Fink, a Hanszen College senior, said at the meeting that the constitution neither permitted nor excluded co-presidents, but that precedent suggested that co-presidents were allowed. In 1997, Hrish Lotlikar (Baker '98) and Ryan Melgiri (Baker '99) ran together unsuccessfully for SA president. While the topic of co-presidents was discussed at that year's SA presidential debate, there is no record of the senate having any doubt of the legitimacy of a co-presidency, Fink said. The discussion at Monday's meeting began when Lovett College Senator Deepthy Kishore asked what the current and proposed constitutions say about co-presidents. "I was asking an objective clarification of the constitution," Kishore, a sophomore, said. Kishore added she had heard rumors that several members of the SA Senate were planning to run for president, but her question was not addressed to anyone specifically. After a brief discussion about the merits and shortcomings of co-presidents, Lisagor and Parks announced they were planning to run together. Lisagor and Parks said they announced their intentions at the meeting so a discussion could take place with everyone having the same amount of knowledge. "Basically, some people before the meeting knew that two people were running as co-presidents," Parks said. "Some were talking about it in the abstract, and others were talking about it in a more personal 'this has to be dealt with now' sense." The SA Senate discussed the advantages and disadvantages of co-presidents and talked about whether constitutional changes should be made. When the discussion became heated, SA President Lindsay Botsford told the SA Senate she would not allow this topic to be discussed at the personal level. Botsford also announced she will not be running for re-election. She said the senate could propose a constitutional amendment to allow only a single SA president at next week's meeting. The amendment would be voted on the following Monday, Feb. 12, and if it is approved by two-thirds of the senate, the requirement would apply to SA presidential candidates in this spring's General Elections. Brown College senior Tim Werner said he plans to propose an amendment requiring the office of SA president to be held by a single person. Such a change would not be in effect for this year's General Elections. However, Werner said if this change was to be included in the new SA Constitution, Lisagor and Parks should factor this into their decision to run, as the legitimacy of a co-presidency could be questioned. During the meeting, Botsford, a Wiess College junior, gave the SA Senate her opinions of the advantages and disadvantages of co-presidents. Botsford said having co-presidents would allow the more menial tasks of the position to be divided up. However, she added that this can also happen if the president has a strong relationship with the internal vice president. In addition, Botsford said one key responsibility of the president is to be a single contact person for the university president and vice president for Student Affairs. With multiple presidents, she said, one person would have to be delineated as the contact person. Baker College senior Frankie Vasquez-Harris spoke at the meeting in support of the concept of co-presidents. He said it might allow the SA to be more responsive to students' desires. "If there were more people [as president], maybe it could do what people want it to do," Vasquez-Harris said. However, Werner said there were three reasons why the SA should have a single president. These are efficiency in decision-making, consistency in the message the SA sends out to students and accountability to both the students and to the administration. Sid Richardson College Senator Jamie Story added there was a pragmatic reason for only one president. "The primary job of the president is to break ties. If we have two [presidents] and they don't agree, what do we do?" Story, a sophomore, said. Several senators said after the meeting that they thought this was an issue that needs to be discussed. "This is an important issue to bring up, and I want to resolve it before the election," Jones College Senator Maryann Bylander, a sophomore, said. Bylander added she does not believe this issue can be resolved without it becoming personal. Will Rice College Senator Steven Caufield, a sophomore, said he plans to take the issue back to his college to learn what his constituents think. Caufield added that an advantage of discussing the issue with the college is that they can look at it in a less personal manner. Wiess College Senator Ricky Kalra, who has said he is thinking of running for SA president, said it would be reasonable to resolve the issue now. "If anything were to be amended, it would be because it is the logical time now, because the constitution is being changed now," Kalra said. Botsford said she is not sure how she will proceed. "I am looking to try to protect both the concerns of the senate as well as the rights of those running, and that is a difficult task," Botsford said. Lisagor and Parks would not comment on the merits of co-presidents or how the SA should proceed because they were concerned that it would be interpreted as campaigning. Campaigning for the General Election is forbidden until Feb. 16. Parks is currently Martel College's representative to the SA, a non-voting position. Lisagor was the SA secretary last year.
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