[22] in UA Senate
Summer Update: Constitution Committee
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul Baranay)
Sat Aug 15 14:39:59 2009
From: Paul Baranay <pbaranay@MIT.EDU>
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:39:30 -0400
To: ua-senate@mit.edu
--0016368e268f7d7e5e0471327ea5
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hey Senate,
I hope you are all having a great summer. The Constitution Committee has
been hard at work reviewing and revising the UA's governing documents, and I
wanted to take a moment to update you on some of the most important changes
to the Senate Bylaws. (As a reminder, none of these recommendations are
binding on the UA; the Senate must still vote on all changes for them to
have effect.)
* Changed the name of the Senate Vice-Chair to Senate Vice-Speaker.
Reasoning: Aesthetics, consistency.
* Explicitly added that the Speaker and Vice-Speaker shall not be Senators.
Reasoning: The Speaker is supposed to be impartial, and so cannot adequately
represent a constituency's interests and also chair a Senate meeting.
Similarly, if the Vice-Speaker is also a living group's Senator, but needs
to take over for the Speaker and chair the meeting, that living group would
effectively lose a vote.
* Chairman of all UA committees (including ad hoc committees) are ex
officio, non-voting members of Senate. They can sponsor legislation.
Moreover, ex officio members are no longer required to attend Senate, but
can be compelled to attend a Senate meeting given 48 hours notice (in order
for Senate to ask their opinion on a bill, for instance).
Reasoning:
* We are discussing consolidating the structure of the Executive Committees;
you can read about this in our minutes. Bennie will be emailing the
committee chairs to get their feedback shortly; likewise, a report with more
details will also be coming out soon.
* UA Treasurer shall "oversee" Finboard (but not chair it), much like the
Secretary General currently oversees the Communications Committee and the
History Committee.
Reasoning:
* We are considering removing Senate Representative to Exec, but not this
hasn't actually been implemented. What do you all think?
Reasoning: The Senate Rep to Exec's function is basically performed by the
Speaker and Vice-Speaker.
* The Special Senate Budgetary Committee, which is charged with reviewing
the UA Operating Budget, will now be chaired by the Treasurer and will
consist of the Treasurer, the Speaker, and the President, plus one Senator
and one member of Senate (who could be a Senator or an ex officio member)
chosen by the Speaker. (Previously the committee was chaired by the Speaker
and consisted of the President, Vice President, Speaker, Treasurer, and
three Senators chosen by the Speaker.)
Reasoning: Changing the committee chair made since from a financial
perspective. Likewise, having a smaller committee that still adequately
represented Senate and Exec equally seemed more ideal for getting things
done.
* The candidates for Speaker and Vice Speaker elections must be current or
past members of Senate. Prior, the candidates for Speaker had to be current
or past voting members (i.e. a Senator) and the candidates for Vice Speaker
had to be current voting members.
Reasoning: First, having identical requirements for Speaker and Vice Speaker
seemed sensible. Second, we wanted the requirements to be more open. If
Senate feels that candidates are not experienced enough, they can indicate
that during the discussion and the voting; a provision in the bylaws
forbidding this did not seem necessary.
* Suspension of bylaws
We're talking about removing the suspension provisions in the bylaws, and
instead allowing only individual clauses to be suspended. Which sections do
you believe should be suspendable? Being able to suspend the agenda
seems obvious - but what else?
Please feel free to reply-all to this email with your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Paul
---
Speaker of the UA Senate
Co-Chair, Constitutional Committee
--0016368e268f7d7e5e0471327ea5
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Hey Senate,<div><br></div><div>I hope you are all having a great summer. =
=A0The Constitution Committee has been hard at work reviewing and revising =
the UA's governing documents, and I wanted to take a moment to update y=
ou on some of the most important changes to the Senate Bylaws. =A0(As a rem=
inder, none of these recommendations are binding on the UA; the Senate must=
still vote on all changes for them to have effect.)<br>
<div><div><br></div><div>* Changed the name of the Senate Vice-Chair to Sen=
ate Vice-Speaker.</div><div>Reasoning: Aesthetics, consistency.</div><div><=
br></div><div>* Explicitly added that the Speaker and Vice-Speaker shall no=
t be Senators.</div>
<div>Reasoning: The Speaker is supposed to be impartial, and so cannot adeq=
uately represent a constituency's interests and also chair a Senate mee=
ting. Similarly, if the Vice-Speaker is also a living group's Senator, =
but needs to take over for the Speaker and chair the meeting, that living g=
roup would effectively lose a vote.</div>
<div><br></div><div>* Chairman of all UA committees (including ad hoc commi=
ttees) are ex officio, non-voting members of Senate. =A0They can sponsor le=
gislation. =A0Moreover,=A0ex officio members are no longer required to atte=
nd Senate, but can be compelled to attend a Senate meeting given 48 hours n=
otice (in order for Senate to ask their opinion on a bill, for instance).</=
div>
<div>Reasoning:=A0</div><div><br></div><div>* We are discussing consolidati=
ng the structure of the Executive Committees; you can read about this in ou=
r minutes. =A0Bennie will be emailing the committee chairs to get their fee=
dback shortly; likewise, a report with more details will also be coming out=
soon.</div>
<div><br></div><div>* UA Treasurer shall "oversee" Finboard (but =
not chair it), much like the Secretary General currently oversees the Commu=
nications Committee and the History Committee.</div>
<div>Reasoning:=A0</div>
<div><br></div><div>* We are considering removing Senate Representative to =
Exec, but not this hasn't actually been implemented. =A0What do you all=
think?</div><div>Reasoning: The Senate Rep to Exec's function is basic=
ally performed by the Speaker and Vice-Speaker.</div>
<div><br></div><div>* The Special Senate Budgetary Committee, which is char=
ged with <span class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Helvetica; =
">reviewing the UA Operating Budget, will now be chaired by the Treasurer a=
nd will consist of the Treasurer, the Speaker, and the President, plus one =
Senator and one member of Senate (who could be a Senator or an ex officio m=
ember) chosen by the Speaker. =A0(Previously the committee was chaired by t=
he Speaker and consisted of the President, Vice President, Speaker, Treasur=
er, and three Senators chosen by the Speaker.)</span></div>
<div><font class=3D"Apple-style-span" face=3D"Helvetica">Reasoning: Changin=
g the committee chair made since from a financial perspective. Likewise, ha=
ving a smaller committee that still adequately represented Senate and Exec =
equally seemed more ideal for getting things done.</font></div>
<div><font class=3D"Apple-style-span" face=3D"Helvetica"><br></font></div><=
div><font class=3D"Apple-style-span" face=3D"Helvetica">* The candidates fo=
r Speaker and Vice Speaker elections must be current or past members of Sen=
ate. =A0Prior, the candidates for Speaker had to be current or past voting =
members (i.e. a Senator) and the candidates for Vice Speaker had to be curr=
ent voting members.</font></div>
<div><font class=3D"Apple-style-span" face=3D"Helvetica">Reasoning: First, =
having identical requirements for Speaker and Vice Speaker seemed sensible.=
=A0Second, we wanted the requirements to be more open. =A0If Senate feels =
that candidates are not experienced enough, they can indicate that during t=
he discussion and the voting; a provision in the bylaws forbidding this did=
not seem necessary.</font></div>
<div><br></div><div>* Suspension of bylaws</div><div><div>=A0We're talk=
ing about removing the suspension provisions in the bylaws,=A0and instead a=
llowing only individual clauses to be suspended. Which sections=A0do you be=
lieve should be suspendable? Being able to suspend the agenda seems=A0obvio=
us - but what else?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Please feel free to reply-all to this email with your t=
houghts.</div><div><br></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div>Paul</div><div>---</=
div><div>Speaker of the UA Senate</div><div>Co-Chair, Constitutional Commit=
tee</div>
</div>
</div></div>
--0016368e268f7d7e5e0471327ea5--
