After months of preparation, rewrites and edits, the Fairfield University Student Association’s new constitution finally came before the entire undergraduate class for final approval on March 3 and passed by a vote of 128-9.
The constitution, which makes sweeping changes to the student government’s structure, as well as simplies and clarifies the rules, was voted on by less than five percent of the student body. However, those who created it do not see this necessarily as a problem.
“On the bright side, most people tend to come out and vote when their government isn’t fairly representing them, or when they disapprove of what is going on,” said FUSA’s Vice President of Senate Brett Ritterbeck ’05.
“I view the low voter turnout in such a way that the students are pleased or at least content with the way they are being governed, and they put their trust in us to do what we have to do in order to represent them,” he added.
Kristina Chomick ’06, the executive assistant of the senate, who also acted as the chair of the constitutional convention that created the document, believes that the document is valid because the senate already unanimously approved it.
“The senate is the largest representative body in all of FUSA, so although not many students went out and voted on the new document; at least we know that the student body is being represented by those 40 members of the senate that had already approved it,” she said.
Regardless of the turnout, Chomick is happy that the document is finally complete.
“I am so happy to see the new constitution that we worked on for so long finally approved by the student body,” she said. “The convention worked so hard these past four months and I am thrilled with the product of all of the members hard work.”
“There was a lot of discussing, a lot of debating and a lot of difficult decision making, and in the end I really feel as though the document we created is the best possible document for creating a new and unified FUSA,” she added.
FUSA President Paul Duffy ’05 regards the constitution as one of the most important works to be completed during his time in office.
“I think getting this done was one of the top things we’ve done here because we had every branch of the government really working hard together,” Duffy said.
In the end, the most likely reason for the low turnout was probably a mixture of timing and subject matter.
Both Ritterbeck and Chomick expect much better results in the upcoming elections.
“It is unfortunate that so many people are apathetic to the people and system that governs them,” said Ritterbeck. “However, if the referendum was on keg races, I think the voter turnout might have been different, which is sad.”
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