After four months of debating, revising and rewriting, SG has a draft of a new constitution, and starting today they will be presenting it to students in town-hall-style meetings. The first two will be held today on the Port St. Lucie campus at 5 p.m., in the JU student lounge, and on the Jupiter campus at 7 p.m. in AD 103. During the meetings students will find out what’s changing and have a chance to offer feedback on the draft.
Administrators ordered the constitutional rewrite after SG leaders failed to elect a student body president in a timely and efficient manner over the summer. The hope was to produce a more streamlined document that kept SG officials accountable to the student body. Charles Brown, vice president of student affairs, says all students should care about this process “because SGA controls all of student fees,” which amounts to roughly $6.5 million a year. “They need to know how SG spends their money.”
Student Body Vice President Kim Nguyen echoes this idea. “I encourage the student body to attend the town hall meetings because it’s a great opportunity to a part of building the foundation of student government.”
And education major Jeff Clark, who’s been involved with the rewrite from the beginning, agrees. “Should they care? Hell yeah.”
However, he says most likely students won’t care. “Unfortunately that’s our society. I’ll let someone else work for me.”
Brown says that many issues have been neglected in years past such as parking, food services, housing and student programs. He wants SG to take an active role in all of those issues. His goal is “total student involvement, not just a small segment of the student body.” But Clark expects just that, a small segment of students who will actually attend the town hall meetings. “I bet you they’ll be about 15 students at most,” he said. “I don’t even think they’re going to read the constitution.”
The town hall meetings will be held in the lobby of the University Center on the Boca campus on Wednesday at noon and 7 p.m.
The final draft of the constitution will go before the students for ratification on Feb. 12 and 13.
Click here to read highlights and the complete draft of the constitution.
