The Associated Students of Delta College (ASDC) has recently proposed new changes to their Constitution.
An official notice of the proposed amendments was sent via Fall 2023 Student Activities in Canvas on Nov. 15. The official notice opened a two-week window for review and public comment at the ASDC meetings. A link for voting on the amendments by the student body will be sent out, allowing for voting on Nov. 29 and 30.
Many of the amendments would be the removal of sections, which will then be moved from the constitution to the ASDC bylaws. This would be done in the hope of making the Constitution easier to understand in the future.
“….including Article III,Section 4: Requirements of Officers, Article IV, Section 1, Subsections A-C and Section 3, Subsection A,” states the ‘ASDC Constitutional Amendments Arguments’ PDF included in the official notice.
Another proposed amendment regards term limits for the ASDC board.
“Term limits are proposed to be removed as the ASDC was advised that general term limits are not allowed under California Education Code,” states the ‘ASDC Constitutional Amendments Arguments’ PDF.
In Article III: Representative Officials, section 2: Term of Office, subsection C: Term Limits, the constitution states, “All elected and appointed officers can serve a maximum of two cumulative terms. Students that have served two terms shall be considered ineligible to serve on the ASDC.”
This would be removed from the constitution.
“Special elections are also proposed to be removed as they are not mandatory under the current
constitution and have never been implemented,” states the ‘ASDC Constitutional Amendments Arguments’ PDF.
This will remove the possibility of special elections in the fall and/or spring, which would allow for vacant board positions to be filled. Instead, the constitution would be amended to say, “If there are any vacant positions following the mandatory spring elections the board may appoint a candidate to any open position according to the appointment process.”
Previously, the board would only be allowed to appoint a student to a vacant position according to the appointment process if the position were still open after the Special Fall Election.
Lastly, proposed amendments to the bylaw revision process would greatly reduce the total amount of time needed for the process.
“The proposed changes to the bylaw revision process will change the current five-week process to a more streamlined process requiring standard 72-hour public notice and a simple vote of the ASDC board during a regular board meeting,” states the ‘ASDC Constitutional Amendments Arguments’ PDF.
The new amendments to the constitution would hopefully allow for the ASDC to work more efficiently within shorter time frames.
“A more streamlined bylaw revision process will allow the board to increase its effectiveness in a timelier manner,” states the ‘ASDC Constitutional Amendments Arguments’ PDF.