Student Senate to make changes

Student Senate to make changes

by Andrea McNamara

A new constitution and new name may soon come to Simpson’s Student Senate along with a rewritten consititution.

“We began revising the constitution last year because of all the gaps,” said Pearl Podgorniak, vice president of the student body.

Along with the new constitution, Student Senate will likely change its name to the Student Government Association. Student Body President Jake Abel said he’s not aware of any earlier changes in the name of Simpson’s student government.

The new name is just one change that the new constitution would bring.

The name change will be official as soon as the new constitution is approved. The senate is hoping to have the new constitution ready by the second semester.

“A lot of the new constitution is still in the brainstorming process,” said Abel. “The new constitution is crucial to having effective and efficient student government proceedings.”

The old constitution has caused many problems during past senate meetings Abel said.

The first draft of the new constitution is already complete and changes will affect voting. The student senate is still unsure of how much voting proceedings will change.

It is also considering having representatives from housing units, academic departments and other organizations on campus to incorporate different views.

The new constitution will also broaden the amount of groups that will be involved with student government, and will not primarily focus on the legislative branch. It would incorporate all three branches, legislative, executive and judicial, instead of just one. They want the judicial board to be more involved and take a more active role in student government.

The name change itself should not cause any controversy, but the student senate is expecting some dispute over the new constitution, according to Abel.

“We want this new constitution to be a compromise of many different views and thoughts.,” Abel said. “We want to include many different viewpoints as we are rewriting and revising the constitution.”