SA: Vote no on by-law change
At Monday’s Student Association meeting, Brown College Senator Patrick McAnaney proposed an amendment to the to the by-laws of the SA requiring two weeks prior notice on all resolutions (see SA box, page 11). Given the haste with which the SA passed the resolution concerning construction, and slow communication between the SA and the rest of the student body, this amendment is quite understandable. However, an amendment is not the way to fix the problem.
If there needs to be more conversation about SA matters within the general student body, then the problem is with the senators and presidents, not the by-laws. These representatives should take it upon themselves to bring SA issues outside Farnsworth Pavilion, whether to college cabinets, servery tables or Thresher letters to the editor.
However, SA by-laws cannot regulate conversation at college cabinets or servery tables. The change must come from the members of the SA. After all, even if the by-laws required two weeks before the SA could pass a resolution, those two weeks could be filled with silence on the topic, whether due to poor communication or the sheer fact that the topic does not need any more discussion.
Furthermore, a required two-week stall in resolutions could potentially hurt the SA in the long run, preventing it from taking immediate stances if the need should ever arise. Campus emergencies do occur, and if another KTRU crisis or lacrosse crisis should ever arise, the SA would only find its hands tied and key mode of formal influence cut off for at least two weeks.
So tell your SA representatives to keep you updated on SA events, but also tell them to vote no on By-Law Amendment #1.
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