SA passes new bylaw
Margeux Clemmons
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: News
The Rice Student Association voted to pass a by-law amendment to the SA Constitution Monday, instating the SA president as one of two undergraduate representatives to University Council beginning in the 2009-'10 academic year.
The University Council, one of Rice University's advisory groups for the university president, serves as a method of communication between President David Leebron and the rest of the university. The University Council is comprised of Faculty Senate members, the faculty speaker and deputy speaker of the Faculty Senate, two graduate representatives and two undergraduate representatives.
Prior to this appointment, both representatives were voted onto the council during the SA's two spring election rounds. Lovett College sophomore Alex Wyatt was voted into the first undergraduate position during the former election, and Will Rice College junior Michael Rog was voted into the second position in the SA's supplementary spring election.
However, after members of the Office of the President realized last year that the SA president does not serve on the council even though the Graduate Student Association president does, they made a recommendation to the SA to put the amendment to vote, former SA President Matt Youn said.
Youn, a Brown College senior, said the issue was brought up by several different people in the Office of the President throughout the year and that they were surprised the SA president was not automatically one of the council's representatives. Youn agreed with their suggestion and presented the proposal to the SA.
"I think it is appropriate for the SA president to be on the University Council, and I think it will be helpful for the SA president to be on the council both because he or she could be a good undergraduate representative on the council and because it would help the SA president to be up-to-date on issues the president is dealing with," he said.
Youn introduced the amendment to the SA on March 16. A second amendment, which would have given voting members a chance to instate the amendment for the 2010-'11 academic year rather than the 2009-'10 academic year, was proposed this week but did not pass.
The University Council, one of Rice University's advisory groups for the university president, serves as a method of communication between President David Leebron and the rest of the university. The University Council is comprised of Faculty Senate members, the faculty speaker and deputy speaker of the Faculty Senate, two graduate representatives and two undergraduate representatives.
Prior to this appointment, both representatives were voted onto the council during the SA's two spring election rounds. Lovett College sophomore Alex Wyatt was voted into the first undergraduate position during the former election, and Will Rice College junior Michael Rog was voted into the second position in the SA's supplementary spring election.
However, after members of the Office of the President realized last year that the SA president does not serve on the council even though the Graduate Student Association president does, they made a recommendation to the SA to put the amendment to vote, former SA President Matt Youn said.
Youn, a Brown College senior, said the issue was brought up by several different people in the Office of the President throughout the year and that they were surprised the SA president was not automatically one of the council's representatives. Youn agreed with their suggestion and presented the proposal to the SA.
"I think it is appropriate for the SA president to be on the University Council, and I think it will be helpful for the SA president to be on the council both because he or she could be a good undergraduate representative on the council and because it would help the SA president to be up-to-date on issues the president is dealing with," he said.
Youn introduced the amendment to the SA on March 16. A second amendment, which would have given voting members a chance to instate the amendment for the 2010-'11 academic year rather than the 2009-'10 academic year, was proposed this week but did not pass.
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