SG sweeps through revisions

By Josh Dawsey | Apr. 22, 2010

Student Government passed sweeping and historic revisions to its Constitution Wednesday night, paving the way for graduate students to have much greater representation in the organization. The legislation passed with more than 90 percent of the vote, much more than the two-thirds needed for any constitutional change. Should the student body support the revisions in a special referendum vote in the fall, the changes will go into effect in March 2011. “This is huge,” Graduate Student Association President Alan Tauber said. “It validates our place as full students of the university, and it allows us to productively work towards the solution of graduate student issues.” The bill creates a bicameral student government, with two separate branches dealing with issues pertaining to undergraduate and graduate students, respectively. Both branches have their own vice presidents and treasurers. The student body president can be either a graduate or undergraduate student. The changes to the constitution have been in the works since December 2008. Then GSA President Reed Curtis scheduled a meeting with Sen. Ben Bullock and then-Student Body Vice President Meredith Ross with a long list of grievances and saying the organization would like to completely split from SG.