Student Assembly amended its constitution at its meeting Tuesday night, codifying for the first time the transfer of power between Assembly administrations. The Student Assembly Election Planning and Advisory Committee also took action to sanction David Imamura '10 for endorsing a student body president nominee before the official start of the election season -- the result of an interview he participated in for a Monday article in The Dartmouth.
The amendment is designed to ensure the smooth transition of power between the current and future Student Assembly administrations. There were no set procedures for the transfer of power prior to the amendment, according to the amendment text.
The lack of a formal process led to very different transitions in the past two years, according to Student Body President Molly Bode '09. Last year, former Student Body President Travis Green '08 resigned from his post a month earlier than usual to allow Bode to take over. Two years ago, the president and president-elect ran separate meetings each week.
"The reason we're doing this is we want to make a transition happen," Bode said.
The amendment will allow the incoming president and vice president to immediately become voting members of the General Assembly and non-voting members of the Student Assembly executive committee. In turn, the current executive committee will help the incoming administration prepare for its new duties, and the current president and vice president will have the option of stepping down after a three-week transition period.
The Assembly leadership will maintain the option to turn over power whenever it chooses before the end of Spring term, but the amendment is designed to encourage it to do so within a predictable time-frame.
"The point is just incentive structure, putting an incentive in place for the new administration to learn as much as possible," Assembly Vice President Nafeesa Ramtilla '09 said.
Two other constitutional amendments were also passed at Tuesday's meeting. The first creates an official position of policy director, who will be responsible for long-term policy planning and projects that do not naturally fall under other committees. David Nachman '09 has served as policy director since the beginning of Winter term and will continue in the position now that it is prescribed by the constitution.
The second amendment will require the Assembly executive committee to meet with representatives from the Class Councils at the beginning of each month. The Class Councils are also currently in the process of creating rules along similar lines.
The new rules are intended to encourage communication and cooperation between the Assembly and Class Councils, Frances Vernon '10, current 2010 Class Council president, said.
She added that the new budget cuts make it increasingly important for younger classes to work closely together.
Outside of the General Assembly meeting, the Assembly Election Planning and Advisory Committee voted Monday night to sanction Imamura by barring him from campaigning on the first day of the campaigning period if he chooses to run for a student government position, according to EPAC Chair Justin Varilek '11.
Imamura was sanctioned because of a statement included in the article, "Field changes in SA presidential race," which appeared in The Dartmouth in print editions and online on Monday.
"I believe that Frances Vernon honestly would be the best president out of all the candidates," Imamura said in the article.
Imamura was given a sanction for "an offense which causes serious harm to the fairness of the elections process," Varilek said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
According to EPAC guidelines, "Formal, written endorsements (such as on a brochure or flier) by another candidate or group of candidates are not allowed for any other candidate besides those running on a ticket together."
The committee decided that Imamura's comments constituted a "formal, written endorsement" because they occurred in written form and in a formal arena, Varilek said.
There is no precedent for this type of action because in past elections candidates have been careful not to endorse students for other positions, Varilek said.
He added that Imamura has the right to petition EPAC formally to reconsider the sanction.
Imamura has not yet moved to do so, he said.
Imamura declined to comment for this article.
