The Student Life Committee’s Class Officer Constitution
Student Life Committee November 9th. 2008, 10:03pmSenior Class President Dan Hoyle was kind enough to join the Student Life Committee this past Wednesday to discuss the Class Officer Constitution that Andrea Wise is spearheading on behalf of the Student Life Committee. The main objective of the Constitution is to increase the accountability of officers to their respective classes. We proposed a series of checks and balances according to which class officers would report to, and have some oversight by, the SGA. Dan was adamant that the SGA should not have any oversight of class officers for a series of (well-articulated and rational) reasons, though he supports the underlying notion that class officers should be held more accountable. We worked together to develop a series of ideas to further that goal:
*Officers will send monthly emails to their respective classes in which they detail that which they are doing for their classes. It should be noted actualizing the idea requires the creation of new student email accounts for the officers that grant them access to global distribution lists for their classes.
*Officers will to maintain and regularly update a class page on sga.com.
*We need increased awareness of the fact that class officers receive $3000 to spend on their class.
*OCL needs to be more proactive in its oversight of class officers’ work, beginning with clearly establishing the rules with officers when they are elected.
*Class Councils should be established (groups of people to sit alongside presidents at meetings, similar to the way in which senators sit amongst president of SGA.)
All thoughts on the proposed ideas, as well as new ideas, are appreciated. Thanks.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Is there a way to remove class officers from their positions if they are not doing their job?
November 11th, 2008 at 12:52 am
We discussed allowing Class Senators to bring their Class Officers to the SGA for a Vote of Confidence if they feel that the class officers aren’t doing their job, but ultimately we decided that it’s up to an individual class to keep their officers accountable by not re-electing them. Also, I think that by spelling out what their responsibilities are, and by talking with the OCL staff (who used to take a more active role in overseeing the class offices), the class officers will start getting their act together. Lastly, by tightening the leash, we’ll (hopefully) add legitimacy and respect to the positions, and in turn increase the number of people who run for the positions.