One ASUNM senator is proposing a bill that would limit the veto power the Board of Regents has over the ASUNM constitution.
The catch?
The Board of Regents must willingly vote away their power if the amendment is to pass.
“What worries me is that even if we do get this through, the Board of Regents still has the right to say no,” said Sean Mallory, an ASUNM senator. “Technically, they still have the power to veto any of our amendments made.”
As it stands now, the Board of Regents has the final say on any modification of the ASUNM constitution, including the proposed amendment. The regents can make changes, or it can veto changes to the constitution voted on by the ASUNM Senate and the undergraduate student body.
Sen. Joseph Colbert introduced the bill in the Steering and Rules Committee last Wednesday striking the line that gives the regents final say over constitutional amendments.
“It is not so much that the Board of Regents has done it (before),” Colbert said. “But it is just that the fact that we are a student group made up of students voted on by the students. Why should a board that is kind of like holier-than-thou be allowed to change what the students want in their own constitution?”
The Committee postponed the vote at their Wednesday meeting on the amendment until it can write up a resolution, explaining why the change is necessary.
“With the long list of high ranking officials that I have dealt with in my fraternity, if you don’t come at them the right way then you are going to get an undesirable result,” Mallory said. “That is really what I am afraid of. I do think there is protocol. And doing it the right way is going to help.”
Colbert said that he cannot ever remember the regents interfering with rulings made by ASUNM, and the point is not to limit the regents’ power. Instead, it is to give students responsibility over their own constitution, Colbert said.
“I don’t understand what their interest is in a student constitution,” Colbert said. “It is not so much trying to take away power from the Board of Regents — but more so making it known that we are a student group and our constitution is to represent the students, not them.”
According to the Board of Regents policy manual, “the Board of Regents will intervene in student government only in unusual circumstances or to ensure compliance with the law.”
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The regents were unavailable for comment Wednesday.
Before the proposed amendment even reaches the regents, the full ASUNM Senate and the undergraduate student body must pass it with at least a two-thirds vote.
The Board of Regents is mentioned in the constitution four times. The ASUNM receives its funding from student fees allocated by the regents. The regents also hold the power to review any rulings that the ASUNM student court makes and modify any joint-student-faculty committee.
