Student Council met Tuesday for its fourth general body meeting of the academic year and passed a bill to establish the Commission for Legitimacy, Electoral Accountability and Reform. The Commission will craft a report on the University Board of Elections’ current structure and governance practices, putting forth proposals for corrective action based on its findings. The Council also approved appointments to the Support and Access Services branch and proposed raising the Student Activities Fee.
The Representative Body previously considered and postponed the bill to create the Commission at its regular meeting Sept. 8. Following the meeting, Lucas Addison, one of the bill’s sponsors and third-year College representative, hosted a legislative workshop over the weekend to review the proposed changes and receive comments from representatives. He introduced an amended version of the bill Tuesday.
Among the changes made, Tuesday’s amendments reduced the number of the Commission’s voting members from nine to eight, with UBE’s appointee being changed from a voting member to a nonvoting advisor.
The amended legislation also changed the allocation of the Commission’s eight remaining seats. The original bill stated that four of the Commission's members would be Council representative body members appointed by the representative body’s chair. The final draft of the legislation reduced the number of Representative Body member seats from four to three.
The amendment also increased the representation of other Special Status Organizations on the Commission. Initially, the Commission would have had two of its members appointed by SSOs — one by the Honor Committee and one by the University Judiciary Committee. The finalized legislation increased the number of SSO-appointed members to four, adding a provision that two seats should be filled by the Second-, Third- and Fourth-year Class Council presidents as well. A new clause further states that if seats offered to the Honor Committee, UJC, Class Councils or UBE are not filled within 14 days of the legislation’s enactment, those seats will be eliminated.
The legislation as amended further changed how the Commission’s chair will be selected. The bill’s original language said the position would be elected by the Commission itself. Per Tuesday’s amendment, the head of the Commission will now be selected by the chair of Student Council’s representative body — currently Philippe Hempel, fourth-year Architecture representative.
Passage of this new Commission comes after Micah Andrews, former Student Council presidential candidate and fourth-year College student, raised concerns to UBE about potential irregularities in the spring Student Council Presidential Election. The initial legislation would have included a requirement for a historical analysis to be included in the Commission’s report on UBE procedures, a provision which representatives removed before Tuesday.
At the Sept. 8 meeting, third-year Commerce Rep. Hayden Matay had said that members of the representative body may have biases regarding UBE’s handling of the spring election, advocating for the historical analysis to be removed. At Tuesday's meeting, Matay confirmed that he worked with Addison to strike this provision of the bill, and encouraged other representatives to vote yes on the final piece of legislation.
Additionally, the legislation now requires that all documents and meeting minutes from Commission meetings be made public once the Commission’s final report is accepted by the Representative Body. In the initial version of the bill, the Commission's report and all documentation were not available to the public and the Commission’s confidentiality was indefinite. Representatives did not discuss a reason for this particular change to the legislation Tuesday.
The Council passed the amended version of the bill to create the Commission with 19 representatives in favor and four abstaining from the vote. An interim version of the Commission’s report will be due by Nov. 19, with a final report being submitted by Jan. 4.
Representatives also heard updates from the executive board Tuesday. Harper Tran, vice president for organizations and fourth-year Batten student, shared that the Student Activities Committee — the committee responsible for the Student Activity Fund — passed the Council’s proposed budget for the year. The budget includes an increase in funds for Contracted Independent Organizations from $810,000 to $950,000.
Tran also proposed raising the Student Activities Fee from $62 to $64. The SAF is a mandatory fee that students pay with tuition which the Council utilizes to support CIOs. Tran said that the SAF is not inflation-adjusted and she wants to ensure that CIOs have money for activities and programming.
The Council also passed a bill to approve appointments to the Council’s Support and Access Services Branch, with 19 votes in favor and three abstentions. The bill further allows for the appointment of a second co-director for grants at Mutual Aid — a Student Council organization whose membership administers ”no-strings-attached” grants to support students in their “times of crisis.”
According to Clint Wilson, chief of SAS and second-year College student, the co-directors are responsible for distributing Mutual Aid’s grants and leading the organization’s fundraising efforts. Wilson said Tuesday that he would appoint second-year Commerce student Hou Feng to serve as the organization’s co-director, noting Feng’s relevant fiscal experience, including within the International Rescue Committee. According to Wilson, Feng also has a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance certification — a certification allowing volunteers to prepare free federal and state tax returns for low-to-moderate income-qualifying taxpayers — and was previously a general member of Mutual Aid’s representative committee.
Hempel also announced that he had finalized appointments to the Council’s Representative Committees before Tuesday’s meeting. According to the Council’s by-laws, every representative must serve on one of these standing committees, with the newly elected chair of the representative body issuing these appointments.
According to Hempel, seven representatives now serve on the Community Concerns Committee, which works to address speakers’ concerns from the public comment portion of general body meetings. Eight now serve on the External Affairs Committee, which considers the concerns of SSOs and CIOs, and engages in outreach efforts with large “student groupings” on Grounds, such as residence halls. The remaining 15 representatives now serve on the Internal Affairs Committee, which advises the chair of the representative body on matters pertaining to the Council.
Tran also said the CIO summit hosted Sept. 12 and 13 was a success. All CIOs were required to attend and those who did not will complete a makeup video online, Tran said.
Student Council will reconvene Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for its regularly scheduled general body meeting.
Edward Christopher is a staff writer on the news desk as well as a member of the advertising team for The Cavalier Daily. He is a second-year Commerce student from Northern Virginia. Edward enjoys covering state politics and University developments.
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