Today marks the changing of the guard for the Fairfield University Student Association. The Piagentini administration will be completed, and a new group of students, headed by President-Elect Karen Donoghue, will take over.
This date is also the deadline for any amendments approved by the FUSA Senate to be included in a new version of the constitution.
According to current FUSA President Joe Piagentini, he must sign all bills before the latest constitution can be reviewed by Student Services. So far he has only signed one bill, and he says that he hasn’t received any other amendments.
Some students are concerned that several amendments that have historically been in the constitution were left out of the constitution during the last convention in December 2000, and have never been added, though they were approved as amendments in FUSA Senate.
One of the amendments that was passed gives students a right to referendum with a petition. This section of the constitution was included in previous versions throughout the 90s, until a constitutional convention in 2000 drafted a newer version.
A version drafted for this convention by former FUSA executive Ken Dunaj ’02 and former Senate President Amanda Betz ’02 included this section of the constitution when it was passed in the Senate. But when it was printed for the student body to vote on, this section was left out.
“They were on my disk when I gave it to [former FUSA president Kevin Hayes],” said Dunaj. “It’s clear that no one read it section by section.”
According to Vice-President of Senate Adam Sheehy ’02, amendments to the FUSA constitution that have been passed by the FUSA senate are official even if they have not been included in the lastest version of the constitution.
“Everything is totally valid,” Sheehy said. “It doesn’t make [an amendment] void if it’s not in there. All the amendments passed are still valid.”
Pigentini has a different opinion about the process.
“If amendments do not reach my desk for me to sign, they must be passed again through Senate under Karen’s administration with a two-thirds vote,” Piagentini said.
Though Sheehy says he doesn’t remember specific amendments, he says that he is aware of several bills that are supposed to be submitted to Piagentini for approval.
Senate Secretary Michelle Primo ’03 was unable to locate the minutes of senate meetings or bills to be brought to Piagentini for approval, though she said in a phone interview that she had given Piagentini several bills to be signed.
Piagentini denies receiving any bills to be signed, besides one amendment that he said he signed earlier in the year. This amendment moved the date of the FUSA election earlier in the year to create a larger transition period for new administrations.
Dean of Students Mark Reed could not be reached for comment.
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