Judicial board lowers senator credit standard

The judicial board approved a new revision of the ASPSU constitution last night reducing the credit requirement for all senators from six completed credits to four completed credits.

Currently, Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) employees are required to be enrolled in at least four credits per term excluding summer term and be students in good standing as defined by the university (a cumulative GPA of at least 2.00). Although employees must only be enrolled in four credits to serve in ASPSU they must complete at least six per term.

“We felt it was a silly requirement given that four credits are required to participate. Six is too many to be required to complete,” said board chair Kenny Bondelie.

At Tuesday night’s meeting an exception to the current credit requirement was made in the case of Student Fee Committee member Angela Leonardo. Leonardo received an incomplete last term due to her recent pregnancy, leaving her with only four completed credits for fall term. She received a notice that her seat must be vacated.

Leonardo said she felt that this was unfair. Calling herself a good student, Leonardo said she could not complete the course due to circumstances beyond her control, and that she is in the process of making up the incomplete.

“Angela has worked diligently,” said Senator Julian Jenkins, adding that he would be disappointed to see her seat vacated under these circumstances.

The judicial board voted to allow Leonardo to maintain her seat under the assumption that she was doing everything in her power to make up her incomplete.

The change in credit requirements is also to allow part-time students to be involved in student government since they also pay student fees, according to Justice Molly Woon.

“Basically, I think that if every student pays a student fee, every student should have an opportunity to serve in student government,” Woon said.

The board also made revisions including changes to the process by which the senate passes bills, the date of the election and the overall language of the constitution.

An entire section in the current constitution was cut and revised into a section titled “Initiative Referendum and Amendment,” the bill process was removed and the referendums, resolutions and amendments were made easier to understand.

“The bill process was obsolete and unenforceable, so we created a process that works-there wasn’t a clear explanation of the difference between a bill, referendum, amendment and a resolution, ” said Woon.

Senator Jenkins disagreed with the change to the bill process, noting that the process is very useful to the senate. Jenkins said that a bill holds more binding power than a resolution, making the senate’s decisions more effective.

The new constitution also changes the date of the ASPSU elections, moving them to the fourth week of spring term. According to Woon, this change will make it easier for the outgoing administration to complete work they want to do. The weather will also be better for campaigning at this time.

“This hopefully will help boost voter turnout as well as give the candidates more opportunity to talk to and interact with voters,” said Woon.

An overall change in the wording of the constitution has been made, making it shorter and easier to understand.

“The hope is that any student can pick it up and read it and understand how student government works without having to ask a lot of questions,” said Woon.