New student gov't proposals expected

Two new proposals for restructuring student government will be introduced at this Sunday's constitutional convention, both in reaction to plans debated at earlier meetings. Freshman Undergraduate Assembly member Ethan Youderian said the proposal he will present would reduce bureaucracy, which he said weighs down current student government and would still be a burden under other proposed structures. Youderian's proposal calls for a general assembly that would take the place of the UA. The assembly would be composed of 36 popularly elected representatives from the student body, 10 representatives elected from within the Student Activities Council and one representative from each of the four undergraduate schools. The proposal would divide the Nominations and Elections Committee -- placing nominations under the control the assembly and making the elections committee autonomous. Both the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Social Planning and Events Committee would be autonomous but would have to report to the assembly. Convention delegate Tex Roper, a Wharton junior, is sponsoring a separate proposal which, unlike the other three, calls for representative's jurisdictions to be split up according to where they live. All of the other plans call for popular election from within graduating class. Roper proposes establishing about 100 residential districts, which would make the assembly significantly larger than any of the other restructuring plans. Roper said the structure would be effective because "the preponderance of work will be done by committee." UA Chairperson Duchess Harris said last night that she supports Youderian's proposal over the others, saying that it "promotes effective change without entirely disrupting the current system." Both Youderian and Roper's plans, along with the proposals that have already been introduced, attempt to broaden representation within student government by including SAC members into a legislative assembly. Several of the proposals also call for representatives of special interest umbrella groups to be included in student government restructuring. In addition, all of the proposals call for the NEC to be divided into two separate committees. In each plan, the nominations commission would be under the direct control of the legislative assembly.

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