The focus of most of the meeting was on the newly drafted constitution. The constitution committee worked throughout the semester to draft a new constitution to replace the current document. They were called to do so in light of several instances of the Senate acting unconstitutionally and to address the distribution of power in the SGO.
"We, the students of Amherst College, acknowledge our responsibilities to ourselves as individuals, to the community and to each other and shall pursue the ideals of all without denying the ideals of one," reads the preamble to the proposed constitution.
The meeting opened with a discussion of Article One of the document, which sets forth the composition of the senate and the responsibilities of each senator.
Under the new constitution, senators are elected to the Association of Amherst Students (AAS), currently known as the Student Senate, as class representatives and subsequently appointed to committees. Eight senators are elected from each class who are "responsible for serving on behalf of his or her class constituency ... and constituting a class council."
In addition, five diversity senators are elected to the Senate by clubs representing minority groups.
The Senate would "serve as an advocate for student interest and present a forum for opinions and issues to be raised," according to the draft constitution.
Several members of the constitution committee emphasized the importance of class representation for open communication between senators and students.
"[Senators are] supposed to be advocates for students," said Senator Julie Babayan '03, a member of the constitutional committee.
"The best representation comes from the class," said Senator Luke Swarthout '04, also a member of the constitutional committee.
"Freshmen have a different perspective, seniors have a different perspective and from those different perspectives comes one voice," said Senator Jay Gilliam '04, a member of the constitutional committee.
SGO President Michelle Oliveros-Larsen '02 echoed the sentiments of the committee members. "[This proposed system] is oriented toward increasing senators' responsibility to their role in the Senate … There will be more of a student voice in the Senate as the number of senators goes up," said Oliveros-Larsen.
"You're going to get such a broad-base spectrum of interests in senators," said Senator Eric Osborne '04.
But other senators were concerned that this new system would have disinterested students serving on faculty committees and would give too much power to the Senate itself.
"I've got some strong reservations about this [proposed method of electing the Senate]," said Senator Marisol Thomer '03E. "The student and faculty committees are the bulk of the student power at this college … I have huge reservations about taking that power from the students and putting it into the power of the Senate."
"Are they going to be as effective if they aren't interested?" added Thomer. "Senators aren't just a medium … they have their own expertise."
"Having a fixed number of people from each class is a recipe for disaster," said Senator Jake Kaufman '02.
After the discussion, senators took a straw poll of their opinions on article one. The article passed nine to three, with one abstention. The members of the constitution committee did not vote.
The Senate also discussed article six of the proposed constitution, which delineates the composition and responsibilities of the executive council. The article, which passed in a straw vote, 13 to 0, describes the proposed executive branch. The executive branch is composed of the chair of the Judiciary Council and the president, vice president, treasurer and secretary of the AAS.
"We feel that having two secretaries is redundant," said Matsui of the committee's decision to eliminate one of the secretarial positions that exists on the current executive board.
Although Oliveros-Larsen said that she acknowledges the possibility of a tie vote, she doesn't share those concerns. "The illusion of great power coming from the executive board is an illusion," she said.
Senators expressed worry that presidential candidates might have running mates. According to constitutional committee members, the proposed constitution does not encourage this practice. "There are no formal tickets," said Senator Mike Flood '03, a member of the constitutional committee.
The Senate will reconvene tonight to discuss other parts of the constitution.
Also at the meeting, senators voted on how they planned to fill three vacant positions-the SGO vice president, president of the class of 2004 and the SFC films and lectures subcommittee chair.
The vice presidency was left vacant after the resignation of Amy Summerville '02 this week. Blake Sparrow resigned as president of the class of 2004 and SFC subcommittee chair upon becoming SFC chair/SGO treasurer.
Senators debated whether filling those positions would be worth the effort involved in finding replacements. They noted that, by the time the new officers would assume their positions, they would only have four weeks left in their term until elections for next year's SGO would begin.
"We've been operating this way all semester," said Oliveros-Larsen about having a short-handed executive board.
Other senators did not feel comfortable leaving the seats open, particularly the class presidency vacated by Sparrow. The Senate accepted a proposal made by Flood to send students a mass email asking for applications to the positions. The Senate will then appoint an applicant to fill each position.