RUSA constitution takes step forward
In an effort to incorporate a more unified student voice, the Rutgers University Student Assembly approved the guidelines last night for their upcoming referendum.
RUSA members voted 41 to 26 in an online vote last week approving the constitution to go to referendum. The new constitution would open up positions in RUSA to the student body and unify five campus councils into one student government.
Ashley Brower, the corresponding secretary for RUSA, said at last night's RUSA meeting in the Student Activities Center on the College Avenue campus that the constitution is a good start toward a more unified student government.
"I think it's a step in the right direction," Brower said. "It will make student government more efficient and a lot more productive in the long run."
Although the constitution opens up RUSA to the student body, there are certain requirements for higher-up positions, she said.
"We have a requirement that you had to have served [in RUSA] for one year for chair and vice-chair," Brower said. "But, I think opening it up made it better and just more transparent in general."
RUSA Chair Werner Born said they aim to have the referendum passed before the end of the semester.
"Our hope is that it shouldn't take more than a week or two to get the required votes," Born said.
RUSA will need 2 percent of the student body to vote for the referendum, which begins on April 5. This means at least 521 students will need to vote before the constitution can be put into effect.
RUSA Chair of the Internal Affairs Committee Josh Slavin, the author of the constitution, said he is trying to bring a number of seemingly separate campus councils into a single, stronger government.
"There used to be this disconnect between the campus councils and RUSA," he said. "We're trying to eliminate that by making student government one, full structure."
The new constitution is also an update of a somewhat outdated governing system, Slavin said.
"This is a streamlining of student government," he said. "We're taking a lot of redundancy and duplication of efforts that existed in the old system and consolidating into a streamlining structure."
RUSA Vice Chair Yousef Saleh said the constitution has been needed for quite some time.
"I've actually been fighting for this to happen for almost two years now … and I recommended that we have external elections for RUSA," Saleh said. "I said it would spread the name of RUSA and just make sense that the leader of the student body is elected by the students and not by an internal election."
Residence Hall Association President Sam Firmin said he is overwhelmingly pleased with the new constitution because it brings in the University's unheard students.
"Student government in general should be more about the students and getting the student's voice. It opens up windows and makes sure more people can be involved in student government," Firmin said. "We can finally get a more unified student body."
John Aspray, RUSA Legislative Affairs Committee chair, said the old system RUSA functions under is outdated. He said it is time for a new constitution, allowing RUSA to represent the University as a whole.
"When you're dealing with issues that are facing Rutgers as a whole, and while you need a College Avenue advocate, not everything is about the College Avenue campus," Aspray said. "When Gov. Christie is slashing the budget, it's not all about College Avenue, it's about Rutgers."
RUSA also approved two separate resolutions, one calling for an increased awareness of textbook prices and the restoration and increase of federal funding for Teach for America.
There was also discussion about improving the student government Web site, as well as finding ways to promote events in the upcoming month.
But the highlight of the meeting was the approval of the referendum, which puts the status of RUSA's new constitution into the hands of the students.
Brower, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences senior, said if the new constitution is put in place, students would not be left in the dark on how to join RUSA.
"I think it's much more direct. I get all these e-mails from students saying, ‘How do I get involved?' Because it's a winding path to get involved," she said. "The new constitution provides this path."
