The House of Clubs’ representatives may no longer have as large of a voice in ASWC as years past. On the April 13 joint session meeting, President Jeff Wilson presented the House with several amendments to the constitution and by-laws after discussions with the executive council.
“We are seeking positive reinforcements to get people involved on issues they care about and issues that are important,” said Wilson.
The HOCR will no longer be incorporated into every decision made through ASWC, but will still have a say in meetings that discuss pertinent issues to club budgets.
“The constitution has been changed, on average, once every five years. It’s a little bit overdue at this point,” said Jordan Clark, chair of the Oversight Committee.
Clark believes that the biggest modification involves the HOCR.
The HOCR that attend joint sessions are formally known as budget representatives for their clubs. The issue concerning the House of Clubs is that their presence and votes at mandatory joint sessions have not been as beneficial to the student body as it was originally intended.
Many of the topics discussed at the meetings do not even directly involve clubs, calling the importance of their role in the House into question.
“It’s not so much a check anymore as it is a rubber stamp,” said Clark, who also noted that the House of Clubs is being presented with items to vote on without much knowledge about what is going on.
To receive continual funding from ASWC, clubs have an obligation to make a decision on something that may not even concern their club.
“It’s like essentially like saying, ‘Give us your opinion or else we’ll take your money away.’ That’s not the ideal relationship between the executive council, enate and the clubs on campus,” said Clark.
In past years, former presidents of ASWC have only discussed modifications of club representation at meetings, but have always passed it on to the next president to manage during their term. This year is the first time it’s being put into action.
“In the new system we got rid of that old theory of House of Clubs. In theory it would’ve worked, but in practice it didn’t implement the way they wanted eight years ago when it was put into action,” said Wilson.
When the proposed changes were presented an hour and 45 minutes into the April 13 meeting, it did not solicit much feedback from the House. However, Clark affirmed that the changes will be available online for reps to access and discuss with the executive council.
“In my opinion, the problem with the House of Clubs is that I, as a club representative, am not voting for my club but rather just voting as a student,” said sophomore Sarah Deming, who has served as the Black Student Union’s budget rep since spring 2007.
“It was kind of silly why we’re at most meetings because I don’t know how the Black Student Union feels about confirming these two people as Pio editors-in-chief or other decisions of that nature,” said Deming. The HOCR generally agreed and felt satisfied with the amendments, according to Deming.
Sophomore Jackson Cahn served on the ASWC Reform Committee when the changes were being discussed. As the Medieval Society budget rep, Cahn shared the same sentiment as some of his fellow reps that the voice of the students is not being heard through clubs.
“Even if my club did have a stake in the issue, I would not have a chance to present the issue before my club and find their opinions before the meeting, so I cannot accurately represent their opinions,” said Cahn.
Junior Roman Goerss, chairman of the Reform Committee, has done an independent study on the workings of a student government and has played a major role in developing the changes regarding the clubs’ positions in the House.
“I think the general attitude is that the system we have is not working so well right now and so why not give something else a try?” said Goerss.
According to Clark, the Senate may have more power in the next system than it has in the past. Senators would be assigned to represent a few clubs in order to understand the workings of each club and advocating their concerns. When budget decisions need to be made, the presence of club reps would be called in for one joint session meeting, rather than attending several meetings out of the year.
In an effort to become more accessible to the Whitman community, Wilson said that the new system will include town hall meetings that anyone who is interested: club rep or not: is allowed to attend. Along with administration, faculty and staff, this town hall meeting will provide an open forum to discuss any matters that need to be brought to ASWC’s attention, rather than streaming communication through the House of Clubs.
“We want to make sure there’s a really clear process about how clubs can get funding and how the senate can go about awarding ASWC monies,” said Wilson. “This new system aims to clarify. So students will know what conduits there are for their initiatives to get money, to get rules, resolutions and more.”
The problem of taking away the check the House of Clubs has had in the student government has been discussed by the executive council since the clubs have made important decisions in the past. However, Clark asserts that ASWC won’t know the benefits of the changes without putting it into action.
“It’s hard to know before you try and put it into practice,” said Clark.
Clark hopes that once the student body becomes introduced to the changes, there will be some dissenting opinion. He believes that the executive council and committees recognizes that there is no such thing as a perfect system.
A joint session meeting will be taking place Sunday night on April 27 and the amendments about the House’s role with be voted on. In order to be approved, changes need to pass through the Senate and the House of Clubs with a two-thirds vote. It will then go on the ballot for the April 29 elections and need 20 percent of student body to vote in order to be considered majority and enacted for next year.
Access to the new constitution and by-laws are available online at whitman.edu/content/aswc.
