Last spring semester, the student body voted to pass a resolution forming a transition committee meant to come up with a new student government system. The transition committee’s goals focused on increasing diverse representation, increasing efficiency in student government and making the traditions committee an institutional entity.
The transition committee’s presentation at Student Senate means that voting will start soon, with expectations of the committee members being that voting opens Friday, Feb. 24. There are a number of major differences that are important for the student body to understand in order to make an informative decision.
First, the new student government, the Student Assembly, will consist of Speaker, Vice Speaker (with an assistant), Secretary (with an assistant) and Treasurer. There will also be some changes to the chairperson positions which now include: student affairs coordinator, diversity and inclusion chairperson (DI), business ventures chairperson and academic affairs chairperson. The decision behind these changes is a new addition of student affairs and DI committee which is meant to increase the quality of student life and representation.
The biggest change to the constitution is probably the changes in the number of senators and representatives. Instead of 48 total members at Senate, there will be 18 senators representing the class cohorts and 18 representatives for different identities on campus, such as the student employees and residence life/ student mentor representatives. Like with the committee changes, the Student Assembly is meant to increase diverse representation by adding 4 Diversity Board members.
The numbers are explained by the fact that other schools of similar or bigger size usually have a smaller number of senators. “Our strategy was to have 1 senator per 100 students, which is what other schools do,” legal studies senior and the chair of the transition committee Jalen Belgrave said. “There will be 6 senators for the first-years, as they are usually the class with the biggest size. The rest of the classes will have 4 senators.”
A question that came up often was what would happen to the traditions committee, which runs events like the tree-lighting ceremony. Students worried that the constitution would do away with these beloved traditions. However, the Student Assembly constitution also creates class clubs, which are meant to focus on these traditions. Anyone from that class may join this club, and it will have a similar Executive Cabinet as other Etown clubs. Students in this club are able to join a traditions committee that is a part of the institution and will receive the same funding and support.
The new constitution is also meant to make student government meetings more efficient. Currently, the whole Student Senate meets every week on Thursday. Under the changes, the Student Assembly will meet twice a month, at the beginning and at the end of the month. The internal committees are expected to meet at least one time in between those meetings, to increase internal committee interactions and cut out unnecessary meetings. The Speaker may at any time hold an emergency meeting with the entirety of the Student Assembly.
“Our main goal is to make sure that everyone has a voice in Etown’s student body,” Belgrave said. “Right now, we all have a certain idea of who joins the Student Senate. The new Student Assembly will work on changing that.”
For more information about the transition committee, email belgrave@etown.edu; for more about the process, email gonzaleznichole@etown.edu; and for more about the current student government, email senate@etown.edu.
