ROUND 2: ASBSU DELEGATES PASS NEW CONSTITUTION PROPOSAL

A student vote on the constitution will be held pending approval by university administration

Brydon Black | News Editor | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

On Feb. 10, constitutional convention delegates of the Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU) passed a revised version of Honors College Sen. Ethan LaHaug’s constitution, 8-5.

The five “no” votes came from Inclusive Excellence Student Council (IESC) delegates, Funding Board delegates and student at large Fenix Dietz.

The new constitution is similar to LaHaug’s previous proposal, which delegates also passed last semester. If approved, the new constitution would dissolve the IESC and Funding Board into a new threebranch system modeled after the United States government. Additionally, the new constitution would add 29 elected positions and move the Funding Board to the executive branch.

Under the current constitution, the entire Senate and Assembly are appointed. Under LaHaug’s proposal, the Senate would instead be elected, as would the ethics officer.

University administration will have the final say on whether the constitution goes forward to a student vote, where it will need at least 500 votes and a majority to pass.

Day One: Debate

ASBSU delegates met on Friday, Feb. 3 for the first formal day of their constitutional convention. The formal meeting of delegates included reports from delegate constituents, proposals of a new constitution, debate over one proposal and 15 minutes of student testimony.

Only one constitution of the two posted on ASBSU’s website was discussed, Ethan LaHaug’s. The other constitution was drafted by Fenix Dietz, who was unable to make the convention for personal reasons.

The debate mirrored much of the discourse that took place last semester during the first constitutional convention.

During the debate, two IESC and Funding Board delegates opposed the new changes over concerns of a rushed constitutional process and their diminished roles in student government.

The remaining eight delegates were in favor of the new constitution, with LaHaug and ASBSU President Adam Jones being the most vocal proponents.

Proponents argued that the new constitution would make ASBSU more accessible for students, distribute power among all three branches and avoid Title IX violations by renaming positions such as the racial and ethnic minority representative.

Jones made similar arguments, saying that after speaking with university lawyers, he didn’t receive a clear response on whether or not the current positions violate Title IX.

VPIE Melanie Figueroa Zavala argued that since the positions aren’t paid, they couldn’t violate Title IX, and Jones responded that the positions don’t have to be paid.

“As someone who has firsthand experience in these communities, as well as worked in this position for these communities, I can tell you right now that there is a way to word this question in which it does not need to violate Title IX in order to have these positions still exist,” Zavala said.

Other points of discussion centered around the removal of the paid IESC officer positions and four assembly positions, as well as the introduction of six new underrepresented representatives.

The first day ended with 15 minutes of student testimonials, where nine students voiced opposition to the proposed constitution and one expressed approval.

Day 2: Vote

Delegates gathered on Feb. 10, to present constituent reports and explain why they would vote for or against the proposed constitutions.

According to LaHaug, students he interacted with spoke to campus-wide problems such as parking, food service, involvement and the university’s connection to local business.

He went on to say that none of the students he spoke with articulated a desire to focus on critical or intersectional theory, or to mandate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He said a “small and vocal minority” of students who do care about DEI sent “mean spirited” messages to himself and others calling them racist and radical.

Diego Tapia gave an emotional speech talking about the IESC’s student outreach efforts over the semester. Tapia said from the 282 respondents to their survey, 189 believed representation was listed as a top issue. 23% of respondents said they knew little about the constitution process, and neary 42% said they didn’t know the convention was taking place.

“The big question we asked students [is] whether or not marginalized voices should be included in decision-making amongst ASBSU,” Tapia said. “A resounding 96.5% of students said that they should. Some even gave amazing testimony as to how ASBSU should strive to be more inclusive and accepting of all students no matter what, and that they believed by keeping the IESC as it is now, that this would be done.”