On Thursday, March 14, our Student Government Association plans to hold an illegal election in the Danna Center based on the election policy outlined in a constitution that has yet to be ratified by our popular vote – and that hopefully will not be ratified at all. This proposed constitution, as Maroon reporter Lucy Deickhaus wrote in her article published last week, was drawn up during an unconstitutional “executive session” called by Executive Vice President Michael Falotico. It would deny students the right to representation, rid us of a House of Representatives and limit the Senate to eight seats.

Aside from the election of the president, the vice presidents and the senators, the constitution would put SGA officials in charge of appointing other students to positions of authority. These “mundane changes,” as Falotico so eloquently called them, would lead to nepotism and to the gross misuse of the thousands of dollars that each undergraduate and graduate student gives to SGA per semester.

The circumstances surrounding Thursday’s election foreshadow the problems the proposed constitution would bring. Our SGA is already dominated by the leading members of various student organizations – most notably fraternities and sororities – posing a clear conflict of interest. Under the absentee leadership of President Khaled Badr, SGA has demonstrated its disregard for those with whom its members do not identify. They voted to revoke funding for Loyola’s literary magazine Revisions – one of the only outlets through which undergraduate creative writers can be published. The proposed constitution would only exacerbate such issues because it further hushes the voices of the vast majority of students, creating a government led by a privileged minority.

Honestly, neither the current nor the proposed constitutions will do, but we cannot afford to vote on a constitution that will rid us of the opportunity to radically change our SGA for the better.

Sincerely,

Lydia Nichols

English sophomore