This Friday, the student body will have the opportunity to vote in a referendum on a new Constitution for the AAS. Today, the incumbent and incoming Presidents and the author of the new Constitution write to encourage you to vote ‘no’ in the referendum.

This position is not based on the merits of the document, but on its circumstance. We believe that the new Constitution has triggered a discussion on AAS Constitutional reform for the coming year. The process that has brought the upcoming referendum to the ballot — requiring the signatures of 10 percent of each class — demonstrated that the student body demands reform. However, the input on the document itself was incomplete.

In such a major reform effort, it is imperative that all community voices be heard. To resolve the situation, the authors of this article propose the formation of a Committee on the Constitution and Bylaws. This Committee, tentatively composed of an equal number of Senators and non-Senators, would seek input from all stakeholders to be incorporated into new foundational documents for the AAS. By the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, the Committee would make these recommendations to the Senate and the student body for another vote.