A change was made to the Student Body President and Vice President positions after a vote at the Student Senate meeting on Sunday, April 13, which allowed the two positions to now hold executive positions of other student organizations.
The vote took place after a long debate on whether or not it would be taking power away from the positions of Student Body President and Vice President. Many arguments were made on the issue. Up until now, the Student Body President and Vice President could hold no other executive position in other student organization due to the concern of a conflict of interest, as well as the time dedication required for the two decisions.
“In regards to serving on other executive positions in other clubs, I mainly felt [in favor of the vote] because I wanted the position to always have the best candidate possible,” current Student Body President Trevor Chandler said in an interview, “Many of those candidates who feel they may want to run, who are qualified, could be deterred by such a rule.”
“As I ran for Student Body Vice President last year I was under the knowledge that I was under the stipulation that I could not be an officer of any other recognized student organization,” Vice President Aly Dethlefs said, “At that time I had the opportunity to step up into leadership positions in other recognized student orgs. However, I chose to run for the Vice President.”
There were some Senators, such as Senator Jon O’Neil or Senator Dustin Siggins, which spoke strongly against the vote. “The Student Body President and Vice President positions hold a great deal of influence and unofficial power,” Siggins said, “While I may not find a major moral issue with such a change, I do believe in the separation of power on principle. Furthermore, both positions represent the student body to numerous committees both on and off campus. This representation should be their primary focus as they represent the entire student body equally. I believe holding leadership positions in other orgs compromise this.”
“As the Student Body President does not have a vote or many formal powers I do not see a risk for conflict of interests,” Chandler said, “Student Senators in fact have a vote, and are therefore in a much more susceptible position to have a conflict of interest. This action will open the position to qualified individuals and expand the candidate pool to those who are not typically involved in the SGA.”The amendment to the constitution passed. Seven voted in favor of the amendment and five against it, allowing the Student Body President and Vice President to serve as executive members in other student organizations.
Another issue discussed was over whether or not the Student Body President, Vice President and USSB Representative/Trustee positions should be allowed to vote in Senate meetings. Up until this time, these positions have been ex officio members of the executive board and have not gotten to vote. President Chandler remained neutral on the issue.
“I decided to remain neutral on the issue simply because it was something I didn’t feel I could speak impartially about,” Chandler said.
“I feel that not having a vote makes the person in that position work a lot more,” Treasurer Ezra Dalton said. He went on, pointing out that without a vote, they are more apt to actively participate in dialog to make their influence heard. The vote was a tie, six senators voting against it, five for it and one abstention. This meant Speaker Peter Laufenberg had to break the tie. He voted giving the President and Vice President a vote down.
“I feel that giving the President and Vice President a vote would be diminishing the quality of work that they would do,” Laufenberg said, “It gave far too much power to two individuals. The influence of the position is far and away enough to be effective for the Student Body.”
“I agree with Speaker Laufenberg,” Dethlefs said, “This is the way it’s been in the past and it hasn’t been harmful. There’s really no reason to change it for the sake of changing it. With this year on Senate as VP, I don’t feel I was impaired by not having a vote, and if anything it made me work harder to have my opinion voiced.”
While the President and Vice President did not receive a vote, a separate vote decided that the USSB Representative/Trustee position would receive a vote every third year. The role of Representative cycles between the Trustees of the University Systems of N.H. Every third year, the PSU Trustee gets the Representative title and loses their vote on the University Board. On these years, the Representative will receive a vote among Student Senate.