Stony Brook University’s Undergraduate Student Government (USG) announced a constitutional referendum in a campus-wide email on Saturday, Nov. 9. USG opened voting at 12 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 11 and gave students until 12 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 15.
The referendum included more than 250 changes, including abolishing the judiciary branch, changing student representation in the senate and eliminating required office hours for USG members.
On Tuesday, Nov. 12, three other Statesman reporters and myself worked in the office to push out important information to students.
We announced there would be a town hall on Wednesday, Nov. 13. During this town hall, we were also able to livestream on Facebook, in which we asked several USG members questions.
We also announced that the referendum included a major change of eliminating the judicial branch. According to the current version of the constitution, the duties and responsibilities of the judiciary branch include jurisdiction over the impeachment of members of the legislative and executive branches. However, the proposed constitution would delegate impeachment procedures to the legislative and executive branches, which interferes with checks and balances.
In terms of the referendum as a whole, we also spoke about the other proposed changes and what they meant to the student body.
On Thursday, Nov. 14, I was also given the opportunity to help produce a podcast between a member of the judicial branch of USG and an executive council member of USG, discussing the proposed changes.
Covering the constitutional referendum this past week was definitely a journey, but at the end it was all worth it, as we were able to give students the opportunity to make an informed decision on the referendum.
Maya Brown 