Downtown students now have a more direct say in how their campus is run after they ratified their constitution, changing the student advisory board to a student government.
With elections coming up, the winners will be the first to be part of a complete student government. Most changes will not take effect until the beginning of the new election term May 18, after commencement.
With a new student government, student organizations will have a new procedure to get funding for their organizations.
Before, students filled out a proposal application and the executive board allotted funds accordingly. Students will still have to fill out proposal applications, but now they must go to the senate’s inner-committee council meetings. If a student organization misses more than two meetings per semester, it is not allowed to receive funding for a year. The inner-committee council will meet once a month during the fall and spring semesters.
“This was part of our constitution, and it’s a way for us to bridge connections between [student government] and student organizations,” nursing junior and the Associated Students of Arizona State University Downtown president Rabia Abdulmajeed said. “We want to be updated on what student organizations are doing — not only so we can make sure two groups aren’t doing the same thing, but so we can help promote these activities to students.”
Another difference with a new student government will be how elections are run. In past years, students interested in running for an elected position read a speech to the current student advisory board and were then voted on by the board, Abdulmajeed said. The coming elections will be decided by student voters.
This year, there will also be an election committee. The committee this year is made up of volunteers, but next year will consist of senate members. The committee is in charge of confirming candidate eligibility, making sure candidates follow campaign laws according to the new election code and approving campaign material.
“These are a lot of changes, but now we have a more concrete presence on our campus, with more structured laws to follow,” Abdulmajeed said. “We are now equal with the other campuses.”
“I think the biggest change is how our group is structured,” nursing sophomore and public relations coordinator Natasia Bongcas said.
The Associated Students of Arizona State University Downtown, which is the new student government, differs from an advisory board structurally in several ways.
Before the constitution was ratified, there was an executive board with seven positions and the general assembly. Now there is an executive board with eight positions, most of which are similar to the previous executive board, with a new position as well. The new position will be a director of parliament, a person in charge knowing all executive board procedures, knowing the constitution and keeping people on task at meetings. There is still the general assembly, as well as a senate and judiciary committee now.
There will be five students on the judiciary committee but it is still undetermined how many will be in the senate. The senate will have two representatives from each major on the Downtown campus. All the majors on the Downtown campus have not been yet determined for the fall 2009 semester.
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
