The Associated Students of Citrus College have proposed five amendments, which are to be voted on by the student body Mach 5-6 in the Campus Center Mall from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The ballot will require one yes or no vote. “Its all or nothing,” Adrienne Thompson, supervisor of student life and leadership development, said.
In order for the ballots to be valid there must be a minimum of 270 votes cast.
If passed, each change will be implemented into the constitution in the fall 2014 semester.
No amendments have been made to the ASCC constitution since 2005.
“At this point I hope the students support it and become attracted to the organization,” Mariana Vega, student trustee, said.
The amendments have been under construction since spring 2013. However, the executive board at the time failed to meet the deadline to submit the paperwork for a special election.
At the start of the fall 2013 semester, the new executive board officers took over. According to Thompson, the previous board “didn’t want to impose their will on the new board.”
As it stands now, GPA requirements for members of the ASCC executive board vary based on position. The commissioner and senator positions have a 2.3 requirement while the president, vice president, legislative liaison, secretary and treasurer are set at a higher GPA of 2.5.
Athletes on Citrus teams are required to maintain a 2.5 GPA, and it seemed fitting that all members of student government be held to a higher standard as well, according to Alejandra Morales, vice president of ASCC.
The unit requirement for executive board members of ASCC has been seven units but the constitutional amendment, if passed, would lower that number to six.
The reasoning behind this decision is the difficulty enrolling in seven units when classes are for the most part three units.
Some members of the executive board would be taking two classes while others would have to enroll in three to meet the requirement.
Another amendment would require candidates for the vice president position to serve one semester on the ASCC board prior to having been elected to the vice president position.
This would allow the ASCC president, who is already required to serve a semester on the ASCC board prior to term, and the vice president to get an idea of how they would work together.
Inexperienced vice presidents have previously not lived up to expectation, Morales said.
“Having a semester of experience improves that.”
Currently there are four commissioner at large positions. The proposed amendment would decrease to a third position for “commissioner of inter-club council relations.”
This position would require the individual to be the communication between the ASCC and ICC giving the two groups a direct line of communication.
The final changes proposed for the constitution are language based, adding the responsibilities expected from the commissioner of activities as well as the commissioner of athletics, which was not previously written in.
“These changes are necessary and good for the future function of our board and the ASCC,” Tyler Hernandez, president of ASCC, said.
“They have been debated thoroughly by dozens of students and have seen many changes, now it’s time to see what the students think of our work.”
