A CC junior agonizing over his application (or you, agonizing over that paper you should’ve finished yesterday)

Valiant CCSC reporter Joe Milholland brings you all the information CC juniors need to get a jump start on their careers in student government. (If they’re able to put together a killer application before Saturday, that is.)

On Sunday night, Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) Class of 2017 President Ravi Sinha announced that one of 2017’s representative, Petros Krommidas, had resigned, and a new representative will be appointed soon.

Juniors in Columbia College who want to apply should fill out this form. The deadline is Saturday at noon.

In previous years after such resignations, special elections have been held for students to choose new representatives at the polls. In the Spring of 2014, after 2016 rep Benjamin Kornick resigned, a rare special election was held in the middle of the spring semester.

And in September of 2013, after Cleo Abram resigned early into his term as university senator, an election for the new senator was held in the fall elections, which are usually confined to first-year representatives.

So why is the new 2017 representative being appointed?

After Kornick’s resignation, CCSC amended its constitution with regards to vacancies. Now, University Senators and executive board members who resign receive special elections, but, in most cases, other CCSC members do not. For class presidents who resign, the VP becomes president, and, for class VPs who resign, the class rep with the most votes from the previous election becomes VP.

Section 5-C-V of CCSC’s constitution states that for anyone else, “CCSC shall, by the CCSC meeting immediately following the announcement of the vacancy, convene an appointment committee.”

In this case, the appointment committee will consist of CCSC President Benjamin Makansi, 2017 President Ravi Sinha, 2017 VP Marshall Bozeman, and University Senator Ramis Wadood. Elections Board Chair Joey Levy will have a non-voting role in the committee.

“The four voting CCSC members of the appointment committee shall then select, by consensus, at least three shortlisted candidates (or all who apply, if fewer than three) to present to the CCSC,” the constitution goes on. The CCSC general body will then vote on who takes the vacant position.

At the time CCSC’s constitution was changed,the council chose to avoid in most circumstance the hassles that come with a special election, where “the [elections] board needs to organize mixers, approve posters, organize voting, and answer questions from candidates.” (The current Elections Board hasn’t responded to requests for comment).

In contrast, General Studies Student Council (GSSC) chooses many of the voting members of its council through appointments voted on by the whole council early into the fall semester. The council members appointed are only ones for positions that nobody ran for in the previous spring semester. Council members appointed this semester include VP of Communications Justin Lean, who replaced the elected VP of Comms Donna Askari after she resigned early into the semester.

But GSSC does have a special election coming up this semester – a referendum on fossil fuel divestment (similar to the referendum voted on by Columbia College students two years ago) schedule to take place “before Thanksgiving,” according to GGSC president Elizabeth Heyman.

The struggle via Shutterstock