Class of 2029 Representative Gavin Wynn introduced the Equal Access to Election Information Act at Monday’s College Council (CC) meeting, proposing the creation of an email list that the chair of Elections and Rules Committee could use to communicate election information and updates to prospective candidates in Undergraduate Student Government (USG) elections.
“If you are not a College Council member running for student government, you don’t receive any emails until your signatures have been verified,” Wynn said, referring to the petitions candidates must submit in order to appear on the ballot. “I think going forward, it would be good to have an email list that’s accessible to everyone, that’s easy to join, and that can communicate changes.”
Because resolutions cannot be passed at the same meeting in which they are introduced, the measure will not be voted on until next week at the earliest.
CC also discussed an emergency policy introduced by Vice President of Student Organizations (VPSO) Fred Lee allowing USG committee chairs to temporarily suspend unresponsive committee members. The USG Constitution requires that half of all voting members be present for a committee to take any official actions.
The Committee on Academic Teams (CAT) and the Program Coordinating Committee (PCC) have struggled to reach a quorum due to unresponsive members, according to Lee. Temporarily suspending those members would allow committees to satisfy attendance requirements.
Because the USG Constitution allows the VPSO to take emergency policy action to ensure the continued functioning of Student Organization committees, the change did not have to be passed through CC.
The change does not apply to the Student Government Finance Committee.
CC also discussed its March 7 ad hoc meeting, at which it passed a resolution to call for the removal of Thomas Pritzker from the University’s Board of Trustees. CC had entered executive session, during which only CC members are permitted in the room, for the discussion at that meeting.
Members on Monday voted to delay the release of the minutes from the March 7 meeting until at least next week to allow CC to prepare a summary of its discussion of the Pritzker resolution.
“People were concerned about things that they were saying when they were asking questions being taken out of context,” Class of 2029 Representative Aaron Horowitz said. “This ensures that those who have any kind of security concern will still be able to have that protected while ensuring at the same time that we prioritize transparency and accessibility.”
College Council holds weekly public meetings in Stuart Hall 104 on Mondays at 7 p.m.
Editor’s note: Aaron Horowitz is a current staff member of the Maroon. He had no involvement in the reporting of this story.
