Monday, May 11, 1998
New USAC class must review constitution
EDITORIAL Bureaucratic structure, allocation of power should be
reexamined to reflect student body
Now that the dust from this year’s Undergraduate Student
Association Council (USAC) elections has settled, it is high time
for USAC to seriously re-examine its current structure.
A thorough evaluation of the constitution hasn’t taken place in
over five years. The current structure, consisting of a combined
executive and legislative branch and an impotent judiciary branch,
is an unnatural imbalance of power. Additionally, there are a
number of insignificant offices with little power, an unnecessary
layer of bureaucracy. The new council should thoroughly examine
these constitutional problems.
Taking a lesson from the federal and most state governments,
USAC should create a three-branched government. This would create a
system of checks and balances so that one individual or groups of
individuals do not amass too much power, effectively holding all
aspects of government accountable to one another. The executive
branch would consist of the president, external and internal vice
presidents, the academic supports commissioner and the financial
supports commissioner. The judiciary branch, the Judicial Board,
would remain unchanged, however, other branches of government would
be stripped of their ability to overturn judicial decisions.
Finally, creating a legislative branch would entail the emergence
of a senate-like system.
In order to be effective, the executive branch would need to be
limited to overtly political offices. The remaining offices, which
include student welfare, campus events, cultural affairs and
community service commissioner, primarily provide services and
programming for the campus community and therefore should not be
included in the executive branch so that they can remain
non-political. While these commissions will still be elected by the
student body, these offices must operate independently of the
executive branch.
Currently, the president is responsible for making over 70
appointments. While the current system dictates that the council
would confirm them, this responsibility will be transferred to the
Senate.
While this is necessary for checks and balances, it is also
vital in order to make USAC more representative of the student
body. The Senate would need to be large enough to accommodate the
diversity of the campus, but small enough to be effectively
manageable and organized.
The three offices of general representative would be made
unnecessary with the creation of the Senate, since their primary
function is to act as agents of the student body. Additionally, the
constitution must be purged of the poorly defined and ineffective
position of facilities commissioner. In the most recent USAC
elections, none of the three candidates were able to articulate to
the Editorial Board the necessity of the office. While issues of
parking and construction are important, they should be addressed by
the president.
Before the politics of the new year begin, it is imperative that
the new council re-evaluate its constitution in order to remedy
inherent flaws.