USG code still needs work

The ink is barely dry on the newly revised Undergraduate Student Government Elections Code, yet some changes may already be in order.

The elections code, which was passed by the Senate during its Jan. 28 meeting, failed to mention any guidelines for the University Park Allocation Committee elections.

According to the Student Activity Fee Implementation Committee's recommendations, six of UPAC's members will be elected. The Graduate Student Association has already included the one graduate position into their elections code, but the candidates under the five other positions have no structure or ballot position.

"In reading what the implementation committee (recommended), the definition about how UPAC elections would work is very broad," USG President Sharon Entenberg said.

UPAC, which will be in charge of allocating general funds and activity fee money, was formerly called the Student Organization Budget Committee. Members of SOBC were all appointed.

Because SOBC/UPAC is a standing University committee, it is questionable whether they can write their own elections code, SOBC Chair Kim Schafer said.

"UPAC doesn't fall under USG because UPAC is a standing (University) committee, not a student organization," USG Senate President Mark Sosnowsky said. "(Vice President for Student Affairs William) Asbury will have to write up an elections code."

Entenberg and Schafer plan to meet with Director of Student Life Stan Latta or Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs J. Thomas Eakin, both of whom sat on the implementation committee, to discuss how the committee planned to integrate UPAC into the USG elections.

It must be decided if the UPAC campaigns and accompanying guidelines will be written into the USG elections code or if UPAC candidates will appear on the ballot as a referendum question or on the actual ballot, Entenberg said.