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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1985)
TUDENT NMENT M UNIVERSITY Student body president Leader tackles various jobs president, executive vice presi dent, comptroller, director of programs and director of ad ministration. The president takes part in the selection process of all ap pointments and has final author ity in all appointments made in the executive branch, Alders said. dicial Board chairman. Overall, the student body president over- fhe Student Body Constitu- : branch which consists of; Also, the student body presi dent is involved in the legislative branch. The president has no voting power but can veto any legislation, Alders said. All legis lation passed must be signed by | the president, he said. By THEADUS ANN Mc- CLAIN Reporter The student body president is involved in both official and unofficial duties, says David Ald ers, 1984-85 president. The office entitles the presi dent to be the chief executive of Student Government and to be the student body representative, he said. The official duties stated in the Student Body Constitution gives the student body president immediate jurisdiction over the executive branch which consists of the Legislative Study Group, assistant to the student body Alders said the president also has the power to appoint the Ju sees the 54 University commit tees and the 3 branches of the Student Government, he said. On the other hand, the unof ficial duty of the student body president is to speak as a rep resentative of the student body, Alders said. The extent of a president’s unofficial duties va ries with the person holding the job, he said. “The degree of use of the president depends on the com petency he or she shows to the University administration,” Ald ers said. Asking questions is important for the president, he said, be cause the student should re member that he does not know all the answers. “The position is a learning ex perience,” Alders said, “if you consider it to be.” Leadership development is an important part of being student body president. Conflict resolu tions and personnel manage ment is involved in the devel opment, he said. “This position is also excellent training for the future exec utive, if someone considers him self to be an executive,” Alders said. “Above all, I wish the stu dent body would take it more se rious when selecting a person to hold the office. It does make a difference.” Flowers blooming, trees little bit harder in Sterling budding and the sun shin- C. Evans Library, ing make studying just a JL Ballot will include slot for constitution reform By MEGCADIGAN Reporter In addition to selecting candi dates for student government positions in the elections next week, students will be able to vote on a student body constitu tion reform that would change the organizational structure of Student Government. Mike Cook, vice president of rules and regulations, said the changes are designed to elimi nate the confusion in Student Senate leadership. “Right now people are work ing against each other instead of with each other,” Cook said. He said that the roles of the five vice presidents and the Speaker of the Senate are not clearly defined and this causes conflict. The proposed change in the organizational structure would change the Speaker of the Sen ate to Chief Administrative Offi- cier. The responsibilities of the job would be to preside over sen ate meetings, handle the admin istration of the senate and main tain communication with Senate officiers. “It creates more of a cor porate environment where things can be accomplished, rather than a political environ ment where things get talked about,” Cook said. The proposal also suggests a structure of six committee chair men instead of the five vice pres idents who are now in charge of the various Senate committees. The chairmen will be the chief spokesmen for their Senate areas and also will have the power to create any subcommit tees they feel are necessary. The chairmen positions would be as follows: Senate chairman of academic affairs, who would deal with legislation involving academic areas; Senate chairmen of external affairs, who would deal with legislation involving intercollegiate, inter governmental, former student and off-campus relations; Sen ate chairman of finance, who would deal with all money mat ters of student interest; Senate chairman of internal affairs, who also would be the speaker pro tern and in charge of Senate membership; Senate chairman for student services, who would deal with legislation involving various areas of student life; and Senate chairman for rules and regulations, dealing with Uni versity rules and regulations, Senate internal rules, by-laws, election regulations and the stu dent body constitution. “It’s important for these changes to be made because right now politics stands in the way of getting things done,” Cook said.