On March 4, the NYUAD Student Government proposed a draft of the new constitution in its General Assembly. The draft is currently available on the Student Government Facebook Page and Student Life. According to the Student Government, the new constitution aims to shift “towards representative democracy to be more equitable and representative of everyone.”

The new governmental structure proposed relies heavily on an Executive Board consisting of the President, Vice President, Chief of Staff, Treasurer and Programming Board Chair. The Executive Board is to meet once per week while classes are in session and has the power to establish committees and recognize Student Interest Groups.

In addition to the smaller Executive Board, the new constitution proposes a Student Government Council formed of the Executive Board, Class Representatives, Academic Representatives and Committee Chairs. Academic Representatives are to work between their academic division and the Student Government in order to ensure that the academic division’s interests are not overlooked in governmental proceedings. Two Academic Representatives will participate in Faculty Council meetings as representatives of the student body. The Student Government Council is to meet every two weeks, unlike the weekly meetings of the Executive Board. Academic Representatives and Class Representatives may be subject to a recall vote if a petition is signed by more than 20 percent of the given representative’s academic division or class.

Following sparse attendance at most recent General Assemblies, the frequency of General Assembly meetings will be dropped from the current bi-weekly model to meetings on the first week of each month when classes are in session. External propositions accepted in a General Assembly can be vetoed by a two-thirds vote of the Student Government Council, but that veto may also be overridden by a majority referendum.

The Funding Board will consist of the Treasurer and the Class Representatives and will be responsible for determining SIG funding. The decisions of the Funding Board may be appealed to the Executive Board. Also, a Programming Board will be established to plan events and activities for the NYUAD community.

Finally, certain roles within the current Student Government will be cancelled to be taken over by other old or new positions. The Officer of Communications will be replaced by the Chief of Staff, while the Executive Board Programming will be taken over by the Programming Board Chair. The role of the Global Vice-President will be attributed to the President, while the jobs of the Officer of Student Activities and Officer of External Affairs will fall under the Executive Board.

Voting upon the new Constitution will be open on Friday, March 30 and Saturday 31 on NYU Vote. A simple majority vote will make the constitution successful. If ratified, the newly proposed constitution will take effect on May 21, 2018.