Last night the top members of the Student Assembly appointed a committee that will scrutinize the legality of President Nicole Artzer's '94 appointments to the executive committee.
Artzer is trying to install what she calls a diverse group of student leaders across campus into the top slots of committee chairs, but Assembly insiders protested her choices because only three of them are Assembly members.
Last night's closed-door meeting also resulted in a letter explaining changes to the general Assembly's representation policy.
A motion proposed last Tuesday by Assembly member Grant Bosse '94 demanded the creation of a temporary committee on procedure to evaluate the constitutionality of Artzer's appointments.
Bosse said that Artzer's appointments to the Assembly might not be eligible to serve on the executive committee because some of them were not elected.
The executive committee includes the five Assembly committee chairs, and decides which issues the Assembly will discuss.
Artzer said she is confident the temporary committee will decide her appointments are constitutional.
"It's clear to me that the executive committee is not in violation of the constitution by any stretch of the imagination," she said.
The new committee will scramble to come to a decision on Artzer's appointments. It will release its report tomorrow night at the Assembly's second meeting of the term.
"We're going to resolve the issues," Costalas said. "We're getting in a room and no one is leaving until we're done."
It will also establish rules of order for this term, which will also be presented in the report. The committee's decision is binding for the entire year.
That committee may also make constitutional changes in the Assembly's election process and committee system.
Assembly Secretary Linda Albers '95 will be the chair of the temporary committee. She is a non-voting member, Assembly Vice President Steve Costalas '94 said.
Named to the committee were Chris Bartel '94, Jeff Bell '96, Matthew Berry '94, Bosse, Costalas, Alex Morgan '95, David Robinson '95 and Kenji Sugahara '95.
Also last night the executive committee finished writing a letter to 200 College-recognized organizations that asks each student group to send a representative to the Assembly. Morgan said the letter would be mailed today.
"We would like your representative to fill will be that of a liaison between your group and the Student Assembly," the letter says.
In recent years, the Assembly had given some organizations voting seats on the Assembly.
But now those organizations must apply for seats on the Assembly if they want to vote.
Morgan, who co-chairs the communications committee, said, "We granted voting seats to some groups and it was a gigantic hassle in the past."
"No affinity group gets automatic voting seats --only the 21 people who were elected last year will vote," she said.
