The Black Student Union held its first constitutional convention this week and passed 12 of 13 proposed amendments.
BSU President Brandon Smith said the concept for the constitutional convention came from his campaign platform last year.
“We felt the constitutional convention was needed to rectify many of the archaic rules and to improve the outdated infrastructure of the Black Student Union,” he said.
Smith said the Black Student Union is a conglomerate of 23 student organizations that promote diversity and multiculturalism and support cultural and ethnic appreciation.
“The convention was extremely successful,” he said. “Over 50 percent of the delegation was present.”
Smith said the majority of the amendments primarily dealt with clarifying language in the constitution.
One of the most significant amendments changed the eligibility requirement for those running for BSU president and vice president.
Smith said students currently can run for president or vice president only if they are on BSU executive staff the semester immediately prior to running.
Under the amendment, vice presidential candidates would no longer be required to have served on the BSU executive staff.
“Presidential candidates are still required to have served on the BSU executive staff,” Smith said.
However, they would no longer have to have been members of the BSU executive staff the preceding semester.
They only are required to have served on the executive staff anytime in years past.
He said the changes will allow for more fresh faces to take on the challenge of leadership.
Keturah Reed, a mass communication sophomore, said she supports the amendment because it gives more students the opportunity to run for the positions.
“New people bring new ideas to the organization,” Reed said.
Smith said by the recommendation of BSU Parliamentarian Ralph Johnson, BSU will hold a special BSU general body meeting on March 15 for the ratification process.
“At this meeting we will review what went on during the constitutional convention and vote on whether to add the list of passed amendments,” Smith said.
The other 11 amendments dealt with the structure of BSU.
“We exchanged some of the duties of executive staff members, and gave more voting power to groups who may not necessarily be a student organization, but their programming falls under the BSU umbrella,” he said. “This will give members of the committees such as MLK and Black History Month voting power during their months of operation.”
Elections for 2004-2005 BSU president and vice president will be held March 17.