D’Alessandro said the constitution is a summary of SUBOG’s mission statement and structure which the group follows to ensure it makes decisions in students’ best interest.
During joint elections, the University of Connecticut student body voted to accept changes to the Student Union Board of Governors (SUBOG) constitution which alter the group’s executive board to allow more room for SUBOG members’ leadership development, SUBOG President Julia D’Alessandro said.
D’Alessandro said the constitution is a summary of SUBOG’s mission statement and structure which the group follows to ensure it makes decisions in students’ best interest.
“Every four years [the constitution is] up to referendum,” D’Alessandro said. “We saw some structural changes we would like to change, and every time we change [the constitution], students have to vote to approve it.”
D’Alessandro said one change to the constitution is the creation of a position titled vice president of membership development. This vice president’s role will be to promote leadership skills in SUBOG members through facilitating trainings and assisting in running meetings.
“They help committee members see their full potential and take on more responsibility as a SUBOGer,” D’Alessandro said. “That’s what made us start this whole referendum.”
D’Alessandro said another change to the constitution is the removal of the vice president of policy council position, which worked to facilitate meetings with other departments. She said the Student Union took on their own policy council, leaving no need for the SUBOG position.
“With vice president of policy gone, we did internal thinking,” D’Alessandro said. “Vice president of policy became vice president of administration, and that really focuses on internal affairs. There are a lot of policies we need to work on internally with the university, and that was something we felt we could work on.”
Lillian Whittaker is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at lillian.whittaker@uconn.edu.