Not a Constitution

Sean Zimmerman reports on last night’s ESC meeting.

  • During their final constitutional review, the Engineering Student Council voted 17-7-3 (Yes-No-Abstain) to hold general E-Board elections next year. With this change, all positions on ESC, with the exception of Sustainability Liason and Director of Technology will be decided by a general election. VP Policy Heidi Ahmed explained that the Sustainability and Technology positions will still be elected internally as “they’re very specific to how the council works, rather than what they’re doing for students.”
  • President Chris Elizondo was the first President in favor of Open Elections. He outlined his position during the debate: “Last time, I was at the front of the charge to save Internal Elections since if it’s not broken, why fix it. I don’t think it’s a problem of the quality in the room, it’s the barrier between the students and council. And I think that’s why we’re running class council elections that are unopposed. I think if we reduce that barrier to entry, I do believe in a trickle down effect of increased participation. Overall in the end, what we’ll gain from the student body is more respect, and better treatment from the media.”
  • VP Intergroup Narayan Subramanian said toward the end of debate: “What is our role as ESC? As a student council, if you’re sitting outside this room, do you think this is fair? We have become a very incestuous body. That makes us jaded. I know a lot of people are saying that this can become a popularity contest, but it’s something inherent to our council to go out and meet with our constituents.”
  • Former council member Kamal Yechoor commented during the debate:  There are many students interested in what is going on, on ESC, but you don’t see them here. The one thing is, we kind of close the door to people outside the council.

Documentation via Wikimedia Commons