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The Rice Thresher
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by Rachel Rustin thresher editorial staff Homecoming king and queen won't be the only positions affected by this year's homecoming ballot. At Monday's meeting, the Student Association discussed a range of constitutional changes that might be included in the Homecoming Elections. The SA Constitution will be on the homecoming ballot so it can be corrected to reflect Rice Broadcast Television's status as a blanket-tax organization, SA Presidents Jamie Lisagor and Gavin Parks said. Also, the SA is using this opportunity to discuss other constitutional issues with the senate. "The constitution is going to be on the ballot, so it seemed like a good time for the senate to sit down and think about these ideas," Lisagor, a Hanszen College senior, said. Parks, a Martel College senior, said the issues raised have been discussed for years. "We promised we'd do it, but it's also a good time to do it," Parks said. Parks said if the constitution were not discussed before the Homecoming Elections, special elections would have to be called to pass the constitutional changes before spring. If the SA waited until spring General Elections, the presidents worry the decisions might be made based on who is running for various positions. While a long list of topics has been proposed, only three were discussed extensively at the meeting. These included combining the roles of internal vice president and external vice president into one position, making the secretary an appointed, rather than elected, position, and limiting the number of people who can share a position. The discussion about combining the vice presidential positions arose because some feel the roles of the two vice presidents are not clearly defined, creating confusion about who does what. Others at the meeting discussed whether there was enough work for two people. Lisagor and Parks said they see the combination as a way to make the vice president a stronger position, one better able to help the president and serve in the president's absence. "It goes farther than just the roles that they have," Parks said. "I think that there is a lot of ambiguity as to who does what, but there is also ambiguity as to what their responsibilities are, as to what they are voted for, who they are voted to represent, what their relationship they should have with the president and the rest of the senate." Parks said increasing the strength of the vice presidential position is part of the issue. "One important point is that when Jamie and I were running for co-president, some people came up to us and said why don't one of you just run for vice president," Parks said. "And we said there is just no similarity in the roles - what you do, the responsibility you are given, the amount of work, the amount of time and dedication. There is no similarity. What is happening through this is a greater similarity between the roles and responsibilities of the president and the vice president." The decision about combining the vice presidential positions is linked to the discussion about making the secretary an appointed position. If the secretary were appointed, he or she would no longer have a vote. If the vice presidents were also combined, the senate would still have an even number of members, preserving the president's ability to break a tie. Lisagor said one reason behind the proposal to make the secretary an appointed position is that historically, people have been asked to run for the position by a presidential candidate. Lisagor said more people might apply for the position of secretary if it was not a campus-wide election. Parks said since the position is not usually contested, changing the process should be discussed. "The more ideological and almost realistic basis for it is that historically, secretary is not a contested election," Parks said. "But that is not something we think we can change just by changing our constitution a little bit. That has to be something that people take on when they take on these roles, and through example people will be interested in running. "Realistically, someone is approached to be secretary by one of the presidential candidates. So, we figure, why don't we take that up a level and instead of having someone run that is running because one of the presidential candidate asked them to, have this person become secretary through an application process." Parks said the secretary, not the treasurer, should be the appointed position, because the treasurer can write checks and make the budget. Concern was raised at the meeting over the removal of two executive committee positions, drastically reducing the number of people that are elected to the SA on a campus-wide basis. Lisagor said this was one of the reasons discussing these issues was so important. Each of these issues, she said, has pros and cons, and the more people discussing them the better. Lisagor and Parks said the same if true of the discussion about limiting the number of people who can share a position. Both Lisagor and Parks said they were not sure how they would vote on this issue. "We have talked about it for a long time, and there is no easy answer to this one," Parks said. "I think it is important that we do discuss it and that we do find a way to limit it, if that's what people want to do.." Limiting the number of people that can share a position is a topic that arose in the spring when Lisagor and Parks ran for president together. Parks said they made a promise in the spring to bring up the topic this year. "We're bringing it up because we should," Parks said. "We are now co-presidents and it is important that we do figure out if we want to cap it." However, Parks and Lisagor stressed the discussion would include more than limitations of the number of people who can share the presidency. "Since there is a co-presidency, the focus might come a little more on that role, but I think it's important that we talk about all of them," Parks said. Many other constitution changes have been proposed by the presidents but were not discussed at Monday's meeting. Better defining the role of the elections chair and making it clear that University Court no longer has at-large representatives are the other proposed changes. Lisagor and Parks have also suggested making the SA president a permanent member of the University Standing Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum. Lisagor said the president often has to deal with the results of the UCC's decisions, and this way the president would be there to represent the student body as a whole. The presidents have also proposed making the planning of the retreat part of the president's duties. Parks said the president sets the agenda and therefore should plan the retreat. Parks said they are also getting chairs of SA standing committees to serve on the related university standing committees and are hoping to include this is the new constitution. "I think people should take a hard look at all of the possibilities and the pros and cons of all of them," Parks said. "Through discussing these it will give the Student Association a chance to reaffirm its structure and its mission and figure out where we want to go from here. We've got a cleaned up constitution; do we like the structure of it? If we do, if we feel good about it, then that's terrific." Parks said whether to change the way senators are elected, will be discussed this weekend at the SA retreat. This discussion may continue at a future SA meeting, depending on this weekend. The retreat will take place tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Kyle Morrow Room of Fondren Library. Tomorrow will be devoted primarily to guest speakers, while Sunday will emphasize SA concerns and goals. Also on the retreat agenda is the formation of a cultural committee, which could address various issues on campus and perhaps create a cultural calendar. Lisagor and Parks encouraged anyone involved in the Rice community to attend the retreat, even if they don't stay the whole time. Unless the senate requests more time, the constitution will be discuses again at the Sept. 24 SA meeting.
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