Government in constitutional quandry

Student Association members met Tuesday night with a plan to resolve a constitutional crisis.

They were unsuccessful.

On Monday evening the SA Student Court invalidated a proposed new constitution that students voted on in a December election.

Upon the court’s announcement the same constitution that has been in effect for the entire year remains the SA’s governing document.

Several SA senators disagreed with the court’s ruling and are still attempting to implement the new constitution.

SA Sen. Chris Rotella (CCAS-U), a sophomore, introduced legislation that would have ignored the court’s ruling and recognized the new constitution.

Rotella’s legislation initially passed at the meeting early Wednesday morning.

Nearly three hours later, at 4 a.m., the Senate voted to reconsider the legislation and hold off on an official vote on which constitution to recognize until their next Senate meeting, tentatively scheduled for next week.

SA President Audai Shakour, a senior, told SA senators Tuesday that he wanted the issue resolved at the Senate meeting.

The decision about which constitution the SA will recognize could have a major impact on this March’s SA elections.

Under the current constitution, the Joint Elections Committee will preside over violations during the campaign and the role of the vice president is to be the chair of the Senate.

Under the new constitution the Student Court has jurisdiction over election violations and a separate vice president and chair of the Senate are elected.

Other changes include increasing the number of students on the SA court.

-Brandon Butler