2008 Woodie Awards
Students approve constitutional amendment
Amendment to ASISU Constitution passes by 71 percent
Bob Devine
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
In what seemed an otherwise uneventful election season, one issue had widespread support among students who voted: the proposed amendment to the ASISU Constitution.
The ASISU Constitution states that 400 student signatures are required to put an amendment item up for a vote. Several students passed out petitions with the proposed language, getting nearly 560 signatures in less than a week's time. According to the constitution, ASISU officials are then required to put the item up for a vote of the association and 60 percent must vote in favor for the amendment to pass. Of about 800 students voting on the item during the elections, approximately 570 voted for the amendment, giving it 71 percent approval, which was well above the amount needed for it to pass.
The Idaho Progressive Student Alliance spearheaded the effort to amend the constitution when they found that the newlyinstalled constitution had omitted language which gave students the ability to propose and pass Initiatives, which the previous constitution included.
One of the amendment proponents, Tom Briggs, said he was pleased with the outcome.
"Students may not know how critical an item like this is, but it gives the students leverage when officials want to impose legislation," Briggs said. "If this had not been in place last year, it is quite possible that ASISU would not have put the Reed Gym expansion up to a second vote."
Briggs said that, without this ability by students to propose and pass initiatives, the Reed Gym expansion might have passed without any input from the students of ISU.
The language of the amendment, which was printed in the March 12 issue of the Bengal, will now be officially incorporated into the ASISU Constitution.
The ASISU Constitution states that 400 student signatures are required to put an amendment item up for a vote. Several students passed out petitions with the proposed language, getting nearly 560 signatures in less than a week's time. According to the constitution, ASISU officials are then required to put the item up for a vote of the association and 60 percent must vote in favor for the amendment to pass. Of about 800 students voting on the item during the elections, approximately 570 voted for the amendment, giving it 71 percent approval, which was well above the amount needed for it to pass.
The Idaho Progressive Student Alliance spearheaded the effort to amend the constitution when they found that the newlyinstalled constitution had omitted language which gave students the ability to propose and pass Initiatives, which the previous constitution included.
One of the amendment proponents, Tom Briggs, said he was pleased with the outcome.
"Students may not know how critical an item like this is, but it gives the students leverage when officials want to impose legislation," Briggs said. "If this had not been in place last year, it is quite possible that ASISU would not have put the Reed Gym expansion up to a second vote."
Briggs said that, without this ability by students to propose and pass initiatives, the Reed Gym expansion might have passed without any input from the students of ISU.
The language of the amendment, which was printed in the March 12 issue of the Bengal, will now be officially incorporated into the ASISU Constitution.
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