Students received a blast email at 9 p.m. on Feb. 28 informing them of the passing of the Resolution to Convene the 2019 Fairfield University Student Association Constitutional Convention, which was sponsored by Senator Tyler Heffern ‘22 and Speaker of the Senate Noelle Guerrera ‘21. The vote was unanimous with 17 ayes, 0 nays and no abstentions.
The resolution addresses issues with the current, outdated constitution in regards to the updating the FUSA Court, impeachment process, removal process and much more. Once the Senate had passed the resolution, a vote was put to the entirety of title holding members in FUSA, where it passed with 59 ayes, 7 nays and 24 abstentions. The Constitutional Convention will be convene in 2019 and will be open to the whole university. The dates and times will be announced. FUSA members intend for the convention to be a collaborative, open effort in which all branches of government will be able to communicate and contribute new ideas.
“I am looking forward to the upcoming Constitution,” said Guerrera, who is vice president elect. “The Senate had amendments they were planning to make to the Constitution and wanted to convene the convention to allow the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch to participate in the debate and discussion. FUSA has evolved over the years and many changes have been made that have not yet been specified in the Constitution. Therefore, the Senate felt that it was time to update the FUSA Constitution and encourage input from all of FUSA.”
Heffern also had hopeful things to say about the resolution. “There are so many aspects of the Association that need revising because it’s either outdated, vague or inefficient,” he said. “I know one topic that the Programming Board is interested in including is Co-Sponsorship which is currently absent form the existing document. The changes we hope to make would allow for more efficient operation of FUSA, which will benefit the entire student body, from programming events to effective representation to clubs and organizations.”
As for how this will affect the student body as a whole, Guerrera thinks students will have to wait and see because many of the modifications being made are internal. “But, enhancing our internal FUSA infrastructure will improve the way we function as an organization. This will soon improve the productivity of FUSA, enabling events and programs which we run and organize to be improve.”
She also hopes that this will open up communication between “all of FUSA as well as between FUSA and the student body.”
Students are welcome and encouraged to attend the future Constitutional Convention, dates and times will be communicated via OrgSync.
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