Student Senate Overrides Veto, Approves Constitution

By Connect Mason Reporter Rachael Dickson

President Drew Shelnutt’s veto of the proposed changes to the Student Government Constitution was overridden tonight by the Student Senate in a special meeting.

• Read more about Shelnutt's veto and take a look at the changed constitution here.

There was little discussion on the override vote, with only a few questions asked of Shelnutt about why he vetoed the bill.

He said that he felt that two months was too little time to properly revise the constitution, and that the process should take a year to complete.

“I think passing the constitution now is settling for something that we could have done much better on,” Shelnutt said.

He additionally cited a concern that the removal of the Supreme Court and the new designation of an Elections and Disputes Commission to take its place would increase tensions between the executive and legislative branches of Student Government.

Senator Anthony DiCarlo, who headed up the Constitutional Review Committee proposing the changes, spoke on behalf of the bill.

“There’s always something that could be changed- we all know that,” DiCarlo said. “What we have now is a document that streamlines the organization and gives us legitimacy that we haven’t had in a very long time.”

Senator Jacob Champion also spoke on the issue, referencing the weaknesses of the current constitution.

“If anybody in here can explain what exactly are the procedures for changing the constitution are now... it’s impossible to make heads or tails of it,” Champion said. “If we pass the new constitution, yeah, there’ll be a lot of problems. But at least there will be a general acceptance of what we have to do and there will be a framework of what we do do.”

The Senate ultimately passed “Bill 36,” the official name for the proposed changes, with a vote of 17 for, 1 opposed and 3 abstaining.

The proposed constitutional changes will be put forth to the student body tomorrow for ratification via an e-mailed ballot, which will also contain the ballots for student body president, vice president and Student Senate.