Oct. 3, 2006

They’re changing our Constitution!
By MEGAN BETTELEY
meb002@marietta.edu
Now, before all of you Freedom Fighters strap on your marching boots and grab your “We the People” signs, let me explain. The Student Senate will be revamping the Marietta College Constitution (yes, we have a constitution)!

Student Senate Vice President Brian Ashton explained what all of this meant. “There is nothing wrong with our constitution,” Ashton stated, “it’s just that some parts are open to interpretation, which puts them at odds with other interpretations.” In two weeks, the Constitution and By-laws Committee will begin the long process of reviewing the document and haggling over just what changes need to be made. When that is finished, their recommendations will be sent to Dr. Huck, Dr. Tager, and the school’s lawyers. These men will review the hopeful constitutional candidate to ensure that “it is done right,” as Ashton put it. Finally, the

Student Senate must approve of all the changes.

After all of these wonderfully intelligent and astute folk have tweaked, reviewed and argued over the Constitution, the finished document will be brought to a campus-wide vote. Just as amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by 3ž4 of the legislatures and ratifying conventions of the fifty states, the Marietta College Constitution must be ratified by a large majority of the student population. In this case, some eight hundred students must approve changes.

It will be difficult, Ashton admits, to take on such an ambitious project, but he believes that he and the Student Senate have a responsibility to “bring it back to what it should be, what the student body deserves.” It is rare that a group of students have such a dedicated Senate, and it is encouraged that every student to do something positive for themselves and their school: vote on the new and improved constitution when it is brought before the campus. People get so angry when the alcohol policy is changed, or Senate finishes allocating funds and they feel misused, but then, when was the last time some of these people attended a Senate meeting, or voted for their senators?