After discussing its ongoing quest to replace Webster Hall and passing a bylaw amendment, the Student Assembly toyed with the idea of forming a committee to restructure the Assembly at its meeting last night. Vice President John Honovich '97 submitted a proposal to the Assembly's Executive Committee on Sunday to adjourn the group for the rest of the term and establish a committee to examine the Assembly's structure.
Honovich's proposal was voted down by the Executive Committee because it was not researched enough.
Assembly President Rukmini Sichitiu '95, who voted against Honovich's proposal, said she supports the formation of a committee that would meet while the Assembly was still in session.
Sichitiu said a committee would "look into the structural problems the Assembly is facing."
"It would be a separate committee that would go on while the Assembly was in session," she said. "I'd like a third party objective to look at the SA's impediments and obstacles to its programs."
Sichitiu said resolutions recommending possible committee structures would be submitted to the Executive Committee this weekend and then presented to the Assembly at Tuesday's meeting.
She said she will present her own resolution that will recommend that an external committee be formed to review structures in the Assembly that cause "gridlock and stagnation," to establish a more effective representational system and to improve communication between the Assembly and the student body.
Sichitiu's proposal is similar to the one Honovich proposed on Sunday, but it does not call for the Assembly to temporarily adjourn.
Committee Composition
She said she thinks either Palaeopitus or the Coalition of Class Officers might be able to provide an unbiased, third-party perspective.
Palaeopitus is a group of senior leaders that advises the Dean of the College and the College President. COCO is made up of the leaders of each Class Council.
Alyse Kornfeld '95, a member of both COCO and Palaeopitus, said she thinks Palaeopitus would be the better option of the two.
"I think that Palaeopitus would be a more appropriate group to evaluate the restructuring of the Student Assembly because this task is similar in nature to the other projects Palaeopitus has been working on this year," she said.
Members of COCO said last night that the group is not interested in working on reforming the Assembly.
"I think most of the members of the Coalition of Class Officers would like to remain distinct from the SA and not engage in political discourse," Kornfeld said.
But Class of 1995 Vice President Hosea Harvey said individual members of COCO might serve on a committee if it is formed.
Honovich said he thinks a reform committee needs to include people who know how the Assembly works from the inside.
"We need people who have dealt within the structure," he said. "But it should not be dominated by people from within Assembly."
Honovich said he advocates an open membership to a restructuring committee, but said he is weary of having too many people who do not understand the Student Assembly and the system.
"There are a lot of people who don't know anything about the organization," he said. "We will have to discuss what the organization is for two weeks."
Several members said it would be valuable to have one or more administrators on the committee.
Webster Hall
At the beginning of the meeting Sichitiu said the Assembly is continuing its petition drive to show student interest in replacing Webster Hall.
The Assembly currently has 450 signatures and is aiming for 1,000 by the end of this week. Webster is currently slated to be turned into a Special Collections Library.
She said she discussed the Assembly's efforts to replace Webster with some of the members of the Board of Trustees this weekend and met with an "interesting" reaction.
Sichitiu said she was told the Trustees were under the impression that Webster was unused space when they approved its conversion into Special Collections about four years ago.
The Trustees are now looking into the student usage of Webster, she said.
The Assembly also passed a bylaw amendment that will allow for a question-and-answer period following its debate of each resolution.
