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The Rice Thresher
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by Rachel Rustin Thresher Editorial Staff After months of debate, the revised Student Association Constitution was approved by the SA Senate Monday and will be on the ballot in this month's General Elections. The final round of changes to the proposed constitution were made Monday. SA President Lindsay Botsford, a Wiess College junior, and SA Parliamentarian Rudy Fink, a Hanszen College senior, began planning changes to the constitution last April. "Basically, the changes were made because the constitution had a lot of inaccuracies, for example the way elections were run," Fink said. Most of the changes made Monday dealt with changing the wording or adding previously discussed changes. The new constitution states that University Court will interpret the constitution of the SA and those of all of its subsidiary organizations as needed. "Currently, the constitution has no outlet for anyone to interpret the constitution," Fink said. "The parliamentarian now answers questions on the constitutions, but right now there's not a designated channel to interpret the constitution." It was also clarified that while violations of the Elections Code are also violations of Rice's Code of Student Conduct, the only U. Court trials that can be public are those of students who are charged with violating only the Elections Code. The constitution also explains the function of the KTRU Friendly Committee - to determine policy, not day-to-day operations. The text specifically covering KTRU, as well as the other blanket-tax organizations, was moved to the bylaws. This was also done in other sections of the constitution to make it easier to amend. By moving parts of the constitution to the bylaws, amendments to these rules will not require approval by the student body. Previously, organizations had a form of a constitution in the bylaws of the SA Constitution along with their own separate constitutions, Fink said. If approved, the new SA constitution would only include brief descriptions, including a statement of purpose and what officers it elects during General Elections, about each organization in the bylaws. Each organization will have its own constitution. "If you have a constitution and you have bylaws, you really want them to be followed, and they weren't being [followed] because they weren't correct with practice," Fink said. "So, if they're all corrected, hopefully people will pay more attention to this." Some duties were switched between the SA internal and external vice presidents, and it was clarified that senators are not required to chair SA standing committees. The proposed constitution was changed so that election of all RSVP officers will continue to occur in the General Elections. The SA Constitution must be approved in the General Elections Feb. 23-28. In order for the new constitution to go into effect, at least 20 percent of the undergraduates must vote in the election, and two-thirds of those voters must approve it.
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