Chicago's SGA executive board drafted a possible constitution, which has been worked on for over 30 hours since Feb. 8, said SGA president Alexander Sewell. The senators received a copy of the purposed constitution at the Chicago SGA's meeting on March 2. According to SGA member Ari Shroyer, the resolution will be debated upon again at SGA's next meeting March 9.
Sewell said that if the senate passes the constitution, it will be sent to the student body for a vote sometime in early April.
The new constitution will be similar to the old one, with just a few fixes that help the SGA run better, Sewell said.
"We are really expanding upon the framework that was left behind," Sewell said.
According to the proposed document, anyone from the student body can propose amendments to the constitution as long as they collect 50 signatures. The amendment will have to be posted ten days before a senate vote and must have a 2/3rds majority senator majority vote to pass.
The new constitution does not change the senator election position. As of now, the student body does not elect senators. Instead, they are "selected from the general student body of qualified candidates through an application process," according to Article II of the constitution.
"It was decided that we would hold off on the election process for senators because we need to find a feasible way to include incoming freshman in the process," Sewell said.
If the constitution is passed, senator terms will now be one year instead of six months. Thisis meant to give senators more time to work within the office, Sewell said.
It is also part of the bigger push to make the terms coincide with the school year. All terms will run from May to May, which means the executive board would have to run for re-election in April, Sewell said.
"We just wanted [the terms] to be congruent with the flow of Roosevelt University," Sewell said.
The constitution will also guarantee future senators will work with the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Coalition of Chicago Colleges, Sewell said.
The SGA president will be required to have a GPA of at least 3.0, according to the constitution. Senator requirements will stay at 2.0 and those filling the two vice president positions will be required to keep a 2.5 GPA.
The previous positions of Secretary, Treasurer and the Chief of Staff, will now be officially the Vice-President of Operations and Vice-President of Development if the constitution passes.
The Vice President of Operations would be in charge of record keeping and fund management of the senate.
The person filling this position will also "be the chairperson of the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee," according to the document. The Vice President of Development will run operations at the senate.
"The last three [positions] informally were merged into one . . . With this constitution we expounded upon that merger," Sewell said.
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