Previous service on Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) should not be a prerequisite for serving as BSG president, according to recommendations of the Election Reform Commission (ERC).
ERC chair Will Hales '08 reported the commission's findings at Wednesday's BSG meeting.
The ERC recommended that the previous-service requirement be removed to increase the pool of applicants for the presidency.
"The recent trend has been that BSG presidents have run unopposed," the report reads. "We feel that any competition for this position would be healthy, if only to revitalize the perception that the student body has of the BSG."
The ERC report emphasized that experience is important, but suggested that such a judgment need not be forced upon the student body.
"If the student body has no opportunity to actually choose its leader, it increases the divide between BSG and its constituency," the report said. "We do believe that experience is a valuable asset, given the demands of the position, but we also trust the student body to discern relative ability between candidates."
If a BSG member proposes removing the eligibility requirement at next Wednesday's meeting—as some members of the body anticipate—BSG will debate the measure. If four-fifths of BSG members support the amendment, the proposal will be sent to the student body.
The student body may ratify the amendment if two-thirds of voters support the measure.
BSG President Dustin Brooks '08 said he will advocate putting forth a vote on the matter.
"The way the BSG has been structured in the past has required that the person know more about BSG coming in," Brooks told the Orient.
Brooks pointed out that if this year's efforts by the BSG to be more transparent and accessible to the student body have been successful, though, then an outsider who has paid attention to the BSG could be successful as president.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Sam Dinning, the highest-ranking junior on BSG, said that while he believes BSG experience is critical to the presidency, he is undecided on whether to send the eligibility question through to the student body.
"I believe that someone who has not served on BSG would not be able to serve as president nearly as well as someone with BSG experience, though maybe that should be determined by the voters instead of being legislated by BSG," he said.
"In the past I have been adamantly opposed to the idea, but I'm not opposed to the student body making the decision instead of BSG," Dinning said. "For that reason, I am not discounting the possibility of supporting the motion."
Former Class of 2009 Representative Ben Freedman said he agrees with the commission's recommendation.
However, Freedman, who is currently studying abroad in Israel, noted that some kind of experience with the BSG should be required, even if it is not membership.
"I do believe that all candidates who have not had prior service on BSG should be required to attend at least two general BSG meetings, at least two BSG committee meetings—one of which must be a BSG affairs meeting—and meet with the officer team so as to gain a full understanding of the work required of the BSG president," Freedman wrote in an e-mail to the Orient.
Ian Yaffe '09, who campaigned for the removal of the previous-service requirement last spring, is currently studying at the University of Havana for the spring semester.
"I agree completely with the commission," Yaffe said of the ERC's eligibility recommendation. "The ability of anybody to appear on the ballot (not necessarily be elected) is a fundamental principle of democracy that cannot be ignored."
Yaffe said that if the measure does not pass through the BSG, he may organize a campaign to bring the referendum to the student body, as he did last year.
The report also recommended that graduating seniors may no longer be allowed to vote in springtime BSG elections.
"It is our belief that those who will be represented by the BSG should have full say in who represents them," the report reads.
Brooks disagreed with that assessment.
"I think seniors should be able to vote in spring elections," Brooks said. "In many ways, they are the most experienced members of our community and will have a good sense of what the BSG's election needs to be for the coming year."
At the meeting, Hales clarified that "we weren't saying that seniors would sabotage the election," but the commission believed that seniors would be less invested in the process.
In addition to the questions of who can run and who can vote, the commission addressed the process of voting itself, recommending moving back the first-year elections "at least a week or two," Hales said.
"The timeline for first-year elections is clearly flawed; first-year students need more time in the elections process," according to the report. "They need more time to get to know each other and to learn about the role of the various positions."
The report also advocated eliminating signature-gathering requirements, reasoning that "candidates are few and far between to begin with."
In addition, the report recommended allowing students a longer voting window, possibly over a weekend, instead of the 24-hour period currently in practice.
The commission consisted of seniors Hales, Brendan Egan, Sam Minot, Aisha Woodward, and December 2007 graduate Maura Cooper, as well as sophomores Hassan Muhammad and Emma Verrill.
The ERC's report is currently available on BSG's Web site.
-Nick Day contributed to this report.
Editor's Note: Due to an editing error, the original version of this article did not include Brooks's reservations concerning expanding eligibility; the updated article more accurately represents his views on the subject.