GOVERNMENT BILL 76

 

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

An act TO Restructure the process of apportionment and implement the triennial reapportionment

 

 

WHEREAS,     throughout the history of this Student Government prior to 2002, voter participation in Fall elections has been exceptionally poor, with few candidates participating and voter turnout rarely exceeding 100 total voters from thousands;

 

WHEREAS,     such habitually poor turnout was due in part to the complexity of the first-year undergraduate apportionment system, and prompted the 77th Session of the Student Senate (1997) to eliminate all Fall elections entirely beginning August 1998 and appointing all first-year undergraduate Senators through a special Senate committee; and,

 

WHEREAS,     following the adoption by the 82nd Session of the Student Senate (2002) of Government Bill 49, "An Act to Restore Constitutionally Sound Elective Representation For First-Year Students," Fall elections were re-introduced in August 2003 with a simplified, class-based apportionment system allowing any first-year undergraduate student to compete for 11 seats; and,

 

WHEREAS,     this apportionment simplification has produced far greater participation by voters and candidates alike, averaging more than 26 candidates and over 1,000 voters in the 7 years since Fall elections resumed; and,

 

WHEREAS,     this dramatic improvement justifies a similar simplification for the Senate as a whole, while preserving the historical representation rights of the various Colleges; and

 

WHEREAS,     this apportionment simplification also produced 38 undergraduate candidates for the 2006 Fall election, an all-time record number of candidates in the entire 89 year history of the Student Government; and,

 

 

 

WHEREAS, under the current method of apportionment, students are not equally represented in the senate and senators represent very different sized constituencies; now, therefore be it

 

ENACTED,      by the North Carolina State University Student Senate that:

 

Section 1.        Statutory Authority.  This bill is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Article II, Sections 3, 5(d) and 5(e) of the Student Body Constitution, and Chapter 2, Rule 17(b)(3) of the Student Body Statutes.

 

Section 2.        Student Body Statutes ¤2-3.2 shall be amended by striking the existing subparts and substituting as follows:

 

¤2-3.2. Rules of apportionment.

The Senate shall enact an apportionment no later than three (3) years from the date of the previous apportionment, subject to the following provisions:

 

(a) There shall be a total of sixty-four (64) Senators, each elected by the students of a recognized School or College of the University (SBS ¤2-3.3);

(b) Representation by the Senators shall be divided amongst the Schools and Colleges, and if possible, the classes within each School and College, such that each Senator represents, as nearly as possible, an equal number of students; however, each recognized School or College shall elect at least one (1) Senator; and

(c) The number of students in each School or College shall be determined by the number of full time equivalent (FTE) students.

 

(a) There shall be a total of sixty-four (64) Senators, each elected by the students of a recognized College of the University as defined for Apportionment purposes (SBS ¤2-3.4);

(b) Representation by the Senators shall be proportional among the Colleges such that each College shall elect at least one (1) Senator, plus one (1) additional Senator (up to a maximum of four (4)) for each 1,000 full time equivalent students; and,

(c) The remaining Senate seats shall be divided amongst the Colleges based upon the total percentage of students a College contains of the total full-time University equivalent (FTE) student number without current Freshmen. 

(d) For Colleges with over 5 senators, the seats should be divided between the sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate classes.  For schools with 5 or fewer senators, all seats will be at-large.

 

Section 3.        Student Body Statutes ¤2-3.4 shall be amended as follows, to reflect proper recognition:

 

¤2-3.4. Recognized Colleges for Apportionment Purposes.

For the purposes of this Article, the recognized Colleges of the University, for Apportionment purposes only, shall be:

(a) the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS);

(b) the College of Design;

(c) the College of Education;

(d) the College of Engineering;

(e) the College of Natural Resources;

(f) the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS);

(g) the College of Management;

(h) the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (PAMS);

(i) the College of Textiles;

(j) the Graduate School

(j) the College of Veterinary Medicine;

(k) the First Year College; and

(l) Life-Long Education students.

 

Section 4.        Student Body Statutes ¤2-3.5 shall be amended by striking the existing text and substituting as follows:

 

¤2-3.5. Current apportionment.

Each School and College, and class within the School or College, shall be represented by the following number of Senators:

(a)   First-year undergraduate students from all Schools and Colleges – eleven (11);

(b)   CALS Agricultural Institute- one (1)

(c) CALS sophomores – two (2);

(d) CALS juniors – three (3);

(e) CALS seniors – three (3);

(f) Design – one (1);

(g) Education – one (1);

(h) Engineering sophomores – three (3);

(i) Engineering juniors – three (3);

(j) Engineering seniors – four (4);

(k) Natural Resources – two (2);

(l) CHASS sophomores – two (2);

(m) CHASS juniors – three (3);

(n) CHASS seniors – three (3);

(o) Management – five (5);

(p) PAMS – two (2);

(q) Textiles – one (1);

(r) Graduate – ten (10);

(s) Veterinary Medicine – one (1);

(t) First-Year College – one (1); and

(u) Life-long Education – three (3).

 

¤2-3.5. Current apportionment.

Each College, and class within the college when applicable, shall be represented as specified in ¤2-3.2 for a total of sixty-four (64) senators apportioned as follows:

 

(a)   First-year undergraduate students from all Colleges – eleven (11);

(b)   CALS Agricultural Institute- one (1)

(c)   CALS sophomores – two (2);

(d)   CALS juniors – three (3);

(e)   CALS seniors – three (3);

(f)    CALS graduates- one (1);

(g)   Design – two (2);

(h)   Education – three (3);

(i)     Engineering sophomores – three (3);

(j)     Engineering juniors – two (2);

(k)   Engineering seniors – three (3);

(l)     Engineering graduates- three (3);

(m)  Natural Resources – three (3);

(n)   CHASS sophomores – two (2);

(o)   CHASS juniors – two (2);

(p)   CHASS seniors – three (3);

(q)   CHASS graduates- one (1)

(r)    Management – five (5);

(s)   PAMS – three (3);

(t)    Textiles – three (3);

(u)   Veterinary Medicine – one (1);

(v)   First-Year College – two (2); and

(w)  Life-long Education – two (2).

 

Section 5.        Student Body Statutes ¤2-3.6 shall be stricken and reserved for future use.

 

 

Section 6.        Amend Student Body Statutes ¤2-3.8 by striking subsection (b) so that ¤2-3.8 states the following:

 

             ¤2-3.8. Apportionment for Fall Election.

The following Senators shall be elected in the Fall General

Election and shall not be considered for election in the

Spring General Election: all Senators representing first-year undergraduate students with one seat specified strictly for First-Year College.

(b) two (2) Senators representing first-year students in the

Graduate School.

 

 

Section 7.        This act shall be effective upon its adoption by the Student Senate.