And that's why we have constitutional review fun, folks

And that’s why we have constitutional review fun, folks

We know you’ve waited all week to know how CCSC’s Constitutional Review went down, and you loyal constituents now have the answers at your fingertips. Joe Milholland gets a  big-ol’ Hancock for this CCSC recap.

On Sunday night, the Columbia College Student Council voted on constitutional changes. They made the following decisions:

  1. They unanimously approved an impeachment process whereby a council member is automatically up for impeachment if they have 3 general body absences or 6 overall absences. In that case, the VP of Comms would start the impeachment process. A council member is automatically impeached if they have 4 general body absences of 7 overall absences. An appeals board made up of 5 randomly chosen council members who are not the VP of Communications can overrule an impeachment through a 3/5ths majority if the impeachment was based on faulty attendance data or if the impeached council member had extremely extenuating circumstances for their impeachment. Finally, if a council member has two absences, two other council members can bring impeachment proceedings against them. The proceedings would go forward on the next CCSC general body meeting.
  2. The council did not approve any changes to the Sandbassador. However, they approved the creation of an Inclusion and Equity Representative, a new position on CCSC that would focus on issues students face based on “marginalized identities.”
  3. The council voted not to cut down on the number of representatives in class councils.
  4. The council voted to change the duties of the pre-professional rep to focus more on a broader variety of post-graduation opportunities for students. However, the name of the position is unchanged.
  5. The council voted to give some guidelines in the constitution as to the role of appointed council members.
  6. The council voted against changing the council terms from one academic year to one calendar year.
  7. The council voted to allow the executive board to decide whether they want liaisons to other councils. The Communications Committee will in charge of appointing the liaisons.
  8. The council voted against changing the date of constitutional review.

Several of these decisions involved extensive debate amongst council members. VP of Policy Sejal Singh supported the Inclusion and Equity Rep, saying that she wants to keep its responsibilities vague and that the SGA Inclusion and Equity Rep has worked well. Class of 2015 Rep cited the Blue and White article on gender representation in CCSC as an argument against cutting down the number of class reps. Usenator Ramis Wadood brought up that if the dates of council terms were changed, members of CCSC would have to resign their positions in order to become senators.

Updates:

  • According to Student Services Rep Charles Sanky, Public Safety will now routinely give out quotes on the charge for security at events. Also, Public Safety confirmed that Mudd is open 24/7 for all CC & SEAS students.
  • Usenator Jared Odessky said that the final senate plenary of the year is on Friday. The Senate will vote on the changes to the Rules of Conduct. Odessky said his is “happy with the document that’s going to come out.”
  • Several council members have been meeting with Deantini, ‎Executive Director of Dining Vicki Dunn, and Vice President for Campus Services Scott Wright about SWS’s complaint about worker conditions in the dining hall. According to Sanky, the decision is not an official Columbia policy, and Campus Services is officially investigating the issue.
  • Class of 2015 President Kareem Carryl reported that several restaurants in Morningside Heights will be giving seniors discounts.

Grinding the gears of change via Shutterstock