As students vote on federation officers, constitutional amendment stirs controversy

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As students vote on federation officers, constitutional amendment stirs controversy
Sophomore Austin Mock is running for vice president of Student Federation. Facebook

The Student Federation is facing opposition from the student body and some Student Fed officers for its recent amendment proposal.

The amendment proposes to alter qualifications for Student Fed positions by allowing sophomores to run for positions that were previously only open to juniors, if the positions are uncontested. Candidates who have not served a complete semester can also be considered as though they have, if they meet other qualifications. This is to accommodate members with irregular terms, such as Greek members or students on Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program.

Junior Matthew Montgomery posted fliers around campus this week, urging the student body to vote against the amendment because “it compromises your student fees.” According to Montgomery, he is opposed to the amendment because he believes it will allow inexperienced students to serve in officer positions.

Junior Matthew Montgomery is running for vice president of Student Federation. Facebook

“The current amendment to the federation constitution being voted on allows for someone to become treasurer without ever having seen a federation budget,” Montgomery said in an email. “The money that Student Federation spends by giving it out to clubs and organizations on campus comes directly from student fees and to let student fees be compromised by inexperience would be truly shameful… This amendment is simply not in the best interests of the student body.”

The fliers were removed soon after they appeared.

In a Facebook post, senior and federation president Natalie Meckel addressed the “myths” surrounding the amendment, saying it would make “no difference in experience.”

“Right now, students can run with one semester of experience,” Meckel said in a Facebook post. “The amendment would allow students who began serving at the beginning of this semester to run as well since they will have also served a complete semester by the time they take office.”

Meckel added that “experience is by no means the sole determiner of a candidate’s competence for an officer position.”

She said the amendment is necessary because it allows Student Federation sophomores with experience to run for president or treasurer if either of those positions are uncontested. These positions were previously only open to juniors.

Sophomore Madeline Peltzer is running for vice president of Student Federation. Facebook

It also allows representatives elected at the start of this semester to run for next year’s officer positions, “since they will have a full semester of experience by the time they take office,” according to Meckel. This will enable representatives taking offices in the fall semester to run, if “a very high standard of attendance is met.”

The federation also nominated members for the positions of president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer on Nov. 8.

The positions of president and secretary remained uncontested. Junior representative James Millius has been nominated for president, and sophomore representative Victoria Schmidt has been nominated for secretary. Three candidates are running for vice president: junior representative Matthew Montgomery and sophomore representatives Madeline Peltzer and Austin Mock. The candidates for treasurer are junior representatives Alex Yun and Evan Welch.

Schmidt said she hopes the student body will take the voting seriously.

“I really hope that people keep in mind the interest of the school as a whole and how we all strive for the mission here at this school,” she said. “I think sometimes we tend to think about just what affects us personally, but think about the school as a whole and what reflects the mission of the school.”

Voting for the amendment and for the student representatives and officers will take place in the Grewcock Student Union until Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.