After operating without a constitution this semester, the Residence Hall Association plans to approve a new one during its next two meetings. The new document would keep much of the government's structure the same as it is now.
"There are no major changes with the new constitution. What it's doing is ironing out some ... vague areas in the current constitution," said RHA President Scott Goldstein. "We need the document to clear up some of the technical things."
The current constitution was not approved at the end of last spring semester by RHA's General Council and did not receive the required approval from Housing and Dining due to time constraints. RHA now functions based mostly on its sourcebook, which was approved by the General Council but not the administration.
"The current constitution says basically, 'see the sourcebook,'" said Josh Kaushansky, vice president of Administration and Finance, and chairman of the Constitutional Committee for the RHA.
The sourcebook contains procedural and structural information that governs the organization's day-to-day functioning.
"We've basically been going on the inertia of precedent," Kaushansky said of the organization's operation this semester.
The Constitutional Committee will present the constitution to the General Council at the last two Sunday meetings of the semester, during which council members may debate and make amendments.
If the constitution is approved by majority vote by the General Council, Housing and Dining must approve it in the next few weeks to make it official.
One of the most controversial debates in the Constitutional Committee is voting rights in the General Council. The current council's voting members are hall presidents, vice presidents of programming, and vice presidents of administration and finance. One proposal suggested that floor representatives also be able to vote.
Committee member Jesse Marsden of Centennial Hall wants to keep the structure as it is now. "If it's not broken, don't fix it," he said.
Katie Molski, a committee member from Anderson Hall, thinks that floor representatives would participate more if they knew that they could vote in the General Council.
RHA Vice President Will Mount expects differing opinions to be expressed at the next council meeting.
"I'm sure there will be contentious debate," Mount said.
Goldstein said he expects a constitution to be approved in some form soon so that RHA can function more smoothly.
"Hopefully with the new constitution we can continue providing fun programming and effective advocacy for resident students without facing day-to-day constitutional issues," he said.
