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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The Observer

Constitution changes approved

The Council of Representatives voted to approve new members and passed proposed resolutions to the student union constitution at its meeting Monday night.First on the agenda was the approval of the new president for The Shirt project for the 2005-06 school year. Katie Crossin, former president of The Shirt project, presented Katie Fox to the Council for approval as the new leader of the fundraising project."I am confident in her ability," Crossin said. "She is aware of the magnitude and importance of the project to Notre Dame. She has great ideas already."Fox, a transfer student from Princeton University, was involved with Business Today magazine while attending Princeton and is a new appointee to the Academic Affairs Committee. Fox displayed a sense of humor when asked what the new shirt would look like."Bright pink. Absolutely," Fox said.Additionally, the council voted to approve Patrick Vassel as the director of programming for the Student Union Board. Student Union Board manager Jimmy Flaherty presented the candidate to the Council. "Patrick is clearly the obvious choice," Flaherty said. "He has represented the Student Union Board very well and has been successful in launching Fireside Chats and bringing Gideon Yago to Notre Dame this past fall."Flaherty clarified to representatives that Vassel will be acting as an interim director until a permanent one has been hired. Vassel, who will be studying in Washington D.C. for second semester, will only be able to serve until the end of the calendar year. Interviews have already been held for the position, Flaherty said, telling representatives he is confident that he will present a candidate to fill the role permanently by the end of the semester.Members also welcomed newly-elected freshman class president Erin Mulholland to the Council.Representatives then exercised their voting power by approving proposed changes to the constitution that will be sent to the Student Senate oversight committee. Based on complaints brought forth regarding the new constitution, student body president Adam Istvan compiled a resolution that advises constitutional changes. The resolution called for the meetings of the Executive Programming Board to take place on a bi-weekly basis, rather than the weekly requirement the constitution currently contains. It also called for a formal process to bring allegations of misconduct before the ethics committee. Finally, Istvan's proposal asked the constitution require the student body president to attend Executive Policy Board meetings. "In the meetings I've missed, I've felt that I missed out a lot. Therefore, I think we need to require that the president always be there," Istvan said. "It only makes sense for a policy meeting to be attended by the president."Representatives agreed, and the resolution was passed. The resolution will now be sent to the Senate oversight committee to clarify the language in the resolution. From there, the oversight committee will present the resolution to the Senate, which is the only government group with the power to amend the constitution.