Despite the fact that a record number of voting members attended last night's meeting, the Student Assembly failed to pass one constitutional amendment and tabled a second.
The failed resolution was intended to reduce the required majority for constitutional amendments to two-thirds. Because the decision was itself a constitutional amendment, it would have required a 75 percent majority to pass, but only received 70 percent.
The amendment was proposed in order to address the fact that, as stated by the resolution, "passing any resolution with a three quarter majority [is] extremely difficult." The resolution also stated that many assembly members are too busy to attend all meetings.
This resolution comes after last week's meeting in which two votes against and two abstentions caused a constitutional amendment on Executive Requirements to fail despite 39 affirmative votes.
Several assembly members expressed frustration over the fact that a small minority could have such a large influence on the democratic process. Other assembly members, however, said that the assembly constitution should not be changed to accommodate students' busy schedules.
The second resolution of the night was tabled after an hour and a half of questions and debate; the number of voting members present had dwindled from 52 to fewer than 40.