Student Government officers have proposed a new constitution that, if passed through student senate next week, will appear as a referendum on the ballot in the upcoming election.
The constitution proposes several major changes to the existing system. Among them: putting the office of the treasurer under the authority of the student body president, making speaker of the senate an elected office and solidifying a line of succession for executive officers.
Under this constitution, the student body president would no longer be directly responsible for programs and agencies, such as Walk Home Cocky or Gamecock Pantry.
Instead, those responsibilities would fall under the office of vice president. The job of presiding over student senate would move from vice president to the speaker of the senate.
Treasurer would no longer be an elected office; instead, a student appointed by the president would fill the role and receive a stipend called for in the Student Government codes. This student would serve as a financial advisor to the president and would ideally be “very financially minded” and “passionate about finance,” according to Senate Pro Tempore Lindsay Richardson.
“I know change can be a little bit scary, but change can be a very good thing,” Richardson said while presenting the bill to senate Thursday night.
Kirkland Gray, chair of the Safety and Transportation Committee, penned an amendment to the new constitution during the session, proposing that the treasurer be a nominee selected collectively by the president, vice president and speaker of the senate, then confirmed by the senate.
“I like that we’re getting away from the popularity contest,” he said, “but at the same time, they shouldn’t be appointed by the one person.”
Gray’s amendment was carried over to next week’s session, where it will be further discussed and debated.
Officers hope the new system would allow for candidates to run on concrete platforms that align with the duties of the office — president would run mainly on initiatives, vice president would run on program improvement and expansion and speaker of the senate would run on policy changes.
The Student Government constitution was last updated in 2010. According to a presentation given to senate Thursday night, sponsors of the new constitution would like to change this version to correct several wording errors, do away with mentions of positions that do not exist and better represent the current operating structure of the organization.
In order for the referendum to appear on the ballot in two weeks, it must be passed by a two-thirds vote of senators present at the next senate session on Feb. 5. The bill, calling for the referendum, was distributed to senators Thursday night in a special session of the student senate. Next week, committees will discuss and debate the legislation and will vote favorably, unfavorably or favorably with amendment.
If passed, the text of the referendum must be sent to The Daily Gamecock to be printed at least one week prior to the start of the election, which falls on Feb. 11.
Former student body treasurer Coy Gibson raised concerns about the timeline of the legislation, saying he thought the process was “happening entirely too fast.”
“How many of you saw a copy of these codes before yesterday?” he asked the senate chamber, which was less than half filled. Four or five hands raised in response.
Gibson heatedly argued that the president already has a financial advisor in the treasurer as a separate office, and ultimately said he wished more time had been spent discussing the legislation.
“Sorry to get worked up, but, I mean, this is a big deal, guys,” he said. “Please, let’s consider what we’re doing here, and let’s consider the students we represent.”