There has been no feedback regarding changes West Virginia University’s Student Government Association Constitution, which governs the entire student body and Elections Code.
SGA Vice President Whitney Rae Peters has worked with a constitutional review committee of five SGA members on updating the old constitution and elections code for more than one year. She hoped to present a draft of the changes by Dec. 12.
A blog entry was posted on SGA’s Web site asking for feedback, she said, but it has not been commented on since its posting 11 days ago.
"No one, not even a governor or executive has sent me a comment saying what they think we should change," she said. "It’s not that they don’t care, they just haven’t made it a priority yet."
If no governors respond, some might be upset by the changes, Peters said.
Constitutional review is not on the minds of a lot of students, said James Bailey, SGA attorney general. Bailey is leaving his position next year and is determined to make the changes best for all students.
"I have no personal interest in how this constitution is shaped except what’s best for the student body," Bailey said. "We can’t do that without hearing from the students because it’s hard for a group of five or so to draw up something that’s going to affect the majority."
The constitution needs to be updated because it was written when the University did not have as many students, Bailey said. The updates need to reflect the current administration’s work,
Bailey said.
"Too many things have changed in the way we go about doing things," he said. "It isn’t about changing how we operate, but making our constitution more reflective to how we operate."
The role of resolutions will be reviewed because there is no mention of them in the current constitution, Peters said.
"The constitution should say how (resolutions) are written, what it should contain and what it would mean," she said.
Changes to the SGA President and Vice President’s job descriptions need to be updated to reflect the appointments to committees they make, she said.
She said she receives e-mails every month asking for her to appoint a student to a committee.
"Committees change from year to year so we need to create a way to word it in one bullet point," she said.
"Every single committee we’re required to appoint people to needs to be part of our job description."
The formation of new executive positions would be added to reflect the work of the current administration, Bailey said.
Executives for sustainability and student organizations would be useful, he added.
One significant change Peters is planning on making is updating how members of the Board of Governors get impeached.
Under the current constitution, only 5 percent, about 2,000, student signatures are required to impeach any elected SGA member.
"It needs to be increased to around 25 percent," she said. "What’s going to stop some random student who got mad to go out and get 2,000 signatures?"
Changes to the elections code include adding a ticket system and ways to safeguard against cheating, Peters said.
Currently, there is no mention of tickets in the elections code, yet SGA runs on a ticket system, she added.
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