The Student Assembly's Executive Committee last night voted down a proposal to have the Assembly adjourn until Spring term in an effort to attempt to institute sweeping structural changes.
The motion, sponsored by Assembly Vice President John Honovich '97, failed to pass an executive committee vote on its research and style. The vote was four against, three in favor. Because Honovich sponsored the motion, his vote only would have counted if there was a tie.
Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 voted against the motion. She said it was not researched enough and said it would stop her from reaching many of her goals.
"I didn't feel that it had been well researched and that was one of the requirements for motions being called to go to the General Assembly," she said.
"The larger problem is that the resolution calls for the adjournment of the Assembly," she said. "I think that's a faulty move because the reason I was elected along with the other members in the spring was to fulfill a certain vision."
Sichitiu said adjourning the Assembly would not allow the body to fulfill its commitment to the students.
"The Assembly cannot lose five weeks of its valuable time," she said. "The purpose of the Assembly is to serve the students and I believe that this step would be hurting that aim."
Honovich said his goal is not to "undermine Rukmini's agenda," and said the Assembly still would be able to get things done during the adjournment.
"You don't need to pass resolutions on most things," he said. "There are no projects that are coming to fruition right now. Committee membership is down and we're not exactly busting with activity at this point."
The motion said the Assembly has a poor representational system, is plagued with partisanship, does not build consensus and has declining participation by its members.
The goals of temporarily adjourning the Assembly would be to build an Assembly that values "consensus building over partisanship," to improve the Assembly's representational system and to create a communication system that allows the Assembly to keep the student body informed.
Honovich attributed many of the Assembly's problems to a flawed structure, not to individuals on the Assembly.
"The history has not been consensus building," he said. "There are problems that individuals have caused, but there are structural problems that need to be addressed to gain legitimacy."
"I don't think the Assembly gets that much respect," he said.
But Honovich said he does not advocate eliminating the Assembly.
"I don't think we should abolish it, but I do think there need to be major reforms," Honovich said.
A new "Committee on Assembly Reform" would be created, with Sichitiu as its chair and Honovich as its vice chair. It would meet on a weekly basis and report to students on its progress.
Sichitiu said restructuring the Assembly should be done by a committee while the Assembly remains active. She also said she does not agree with the methods the resolution stated to solve the Assembly's structural problems.
Stacie Steinberger '97, chair of the Assembly's administrative affairs committee, said she did not vote for the resolution because she did not want to suspend the Assembly for the rest of the term.
"I think it would look like a cop-out," she said. "Most of us would rather do it while we're in session."
Steinberger said the Assembly will need its entire body to function for the rest of the term.
She said adjourning the Assembly would severely limit what the body could do.
Honovich said he decided to introduce the resolution now because he thinks the Assembly has lost its legitimacy with administrators and students.
"It's gotten to a point where we've lost a lot of our reputation," he said. "We've gone for three weeks now without dealing with a resolution."
He said now is the crucial time for the Assembly to restore its reputation with the students.
"The Assembly is in danger of failing," he said.
Honovich said he will talk to administrators, Assembly members and faculty about the direction in which the Assembly is going. He said he will discuss some of the structural problems with the Assembly at tomorrow night's meeting.
The motion could still be considered at the Assembly meeting on Tuesday but would need a two-thirds vote of the general Assembly.
Honovich said the plan in his resolution would make the Assembly more focused on its long-term goals.
"We should focus on just reforming the Assembly for four to five weeks," Honovich said.
Steinberger did say she agrees there are structural problems that need to be looked into.
"There's a lot of politics in Student Assembly," she said. "It's unfair that we can't have open cooperation. People tend to vote in blocks"
Jesse Russell '96, who voted for the resolution, said he agrees that the Assembly needs to be restructured. But he said he does not agree with Honovich's reasons.
"I don't think reputation should be the goal of the Assembly," he said. "We should get things done and that should be the goal of the Assembly."
Honovich said he still hopes the issues he brought up in his resolution would be addressed this term.
Although this resolution failed to make it to the Assembly floor, Russell said the issues will remain alive.
"The idea behind it will not fall on deaf ears," Russell said. "I think everybody there understands there is room for change that could be and possibly should be addressed."
"Assembly needs to be more representative, more nonpartisan and value consensus building," he continued.
Honovich said the biggest structural problem he sees in the Assembly is its membership.
Currently, the entire student body elects 24 general Assembly members in the spring, and any student is eligible to join the Assembly if they attend three meetings.
Honovich said the votes for at-large members are nearly random, and students do not know who their representatives.
Russell said he thinks a committee system like the one the Assembly had this summer -- where members of committees were not necessarily Assembly members -- might be more effective.
"Membership is a problem to the extent that the Student Assembly makes it a requirement," Russell said. "You can have people working on projects without having to worry about attendance."
Carol Jung Min Lee '97 and Anna Ochoa '97 also voted against presenting the motion. Laura Bennett '96 and Alex Morgan '95 supported the resolution.
