Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) worked toward its goal of constitutional reform this Wednesday, unanimously approving five amendments that could, after a student body referendum, significantly alter class officer roles.
"We endorsed some productive changes to the class officer structure," BSG President Dustin Brooks '08 wrote in an e-mail.
Since BSG needed 21 votes of approval from the assembly to pass a bill, several absences and a seat left unfilled by the recent resignation of Amir Abdullah '10 created a hurdle to passing the amendments.
"We've certainly run into the problem of absent members before, and I think it definitely slowed us down last night," Brooks wrote. "I do think it's important that 21 members of the BSG Assembly vote in favor of whatever we send along to referendum, so we just have to work through those challenges."
Of the six amendments up for discussion, one failed despite a 19-3 vote. This amendment called for "a special body under the Leadership Council to deal with issues that overlap between the BSG and the Class Officers," according to the BSG meeting packet.
Students first discussed Amendment 22, which would limit the Leadership Council to only the BSG president and the four class presidents, with any of those five students calling the council to order.
Currently, the Leadership Council includes the four class presidents, the BSG president, all of the College House presidents, and the Inter-House Council (IHC) president.
During discussion of this amendment, Vice President of BSG Affairs John Connolly '11 proposed that the assembly vote at the meeting on all six amendments on the agenda. All members present approved this motion.
"It's important that we voted at that meeting instead of waiting a week because we want to give prospective class officers enough notice of the changes before the elections season starts," said Connolly in an e-mail.
While BSG approved the 22nd amendment quickly, the other four approvals, while unanimous, involved longer discussions.
"The name 'council' is a little more approachable," Connolly stated regarding Amendment 24, which proposes to change the name Class Officers to Class Councils.
"It kind of differentiates them from us a little bit, which is good," Connolly said.
The 25th amendment proposes changing the title of Community Service Officer to the Community Outreach Officer, who five other members of the Class Council would appoint through an interview process. The new role would also involve increased communication with the officer's respective class.
Connolly said that maintaining the diversity of ideas the Community Service Officers have traditionally brought to the officer teams is central to the amendment.
Despite the change in title, the officer would "still have to have a special place in their heart" for community service, Connolly said.
While some students expressed anxiety over the implications of using an appointment process, which could result in officers appointing someone with opinions and ideas similar to their own, Mike Dooley '10 stated that "with the appointment process, you're probably going to get a lot of people who ran in the election and lost."
"You won't get random people," he added. "You'll get interested and passionate people."
"An interview process for appointing someone is a really good way for an officer team to bond," Connolly stated, adding that this process might encourage some students not comfortable with running an election to pursue the position.
The 26th amendment, also approved unanimously, proposes to "change the descriptions of the members of the Class Officer Teams to reflect the way duties are currently performed." Connolly created a 28th amendment, ultimately approved unanimously, after debate over Amendment 27, which would allow the Vice President and Community Outreach Officer of the junior class to serve half-year terms, an option that BSG Representatives in that junior class currently have.
Explaining his disapproval of this amendment, Class of 2010 Representative Bryce Spalding wrote in an e-mail, "I thought that having four of the six positions be half year positions would be detrimental to the class officer team."
"I do agree that some good candidates are unable to serve on the team due to there only being two half-year positions, however I believe that having more than half of the team change between fall and spring semesters would be too much," he said.
Supporting the amendment, Vice President of Student Organizations William Donahoe '08 wrote in an e-mail that "unfortunately, a lot of valuable members of the class are excluded from BSG service because they miss an entire year of BSG when they could still participate for a semester."
Donahoe continued, "We only have four years here. We need to develop and maintain members for that entire time and work around a very well-known absence."
BSG Treasurer Nicole Willey '08 stated during the meeting that the changes would enhance the class president's leadership and endow the officer team with "freshness." Class of 2008 Representative Ben LeHay added that officers "plan events in semester blocks anyway."
While Amendment 27, like Amendment 23, failed with a 19-3 vote, Connolly's impromptu Amendment 28 garnered unanimous approval.
This amendment, tinkering with the failed Amendment 27, calls for a half-year Vice President term but a full-year Community Outreach Officer term for the junior class.
"Even though I at first thought [the Vice President] should stay for the entire year," Spalding wrote, "I think it is good that there will only need to be one appointment process for the Community Outreach Officer, should the amendments pass."
As the Orient reported last week, the amendments that the assembly approved will now go to a student body referendum before the proposed changes occur.
Before discussing the amendments, BSG met with Assistant Dean Lesley Levy and Judicial Board Chair Katie Hyman '08. The assembly voted for an executive session, in which non-members must leave the meeting.