lxxxii
2.7.08
published on 09/28/07
Staff Editorial | Council must take time to reconsider organization criteria
Does size matter? The Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council and the Activities Committee have been debating the answer to that loaded question. One would think, judging by Vassar’s small student population, that its students would be in agreement that size is not everything. The vibrancy of Vassar’s student life (and diversity of organizations) is often unmatched by colleges with numerically larger student bodies.
But the size of a budget does matter. New amendments to the by-laws concerning certification of organizations were introduced and discussed at the Sept. 16 VSA Council meeting. As Vice President for Student Life Morgan Warners ’08 pointed out at the Sept. 23 Council meeting, the impetus for these bylaw changes lies with the burgeoning number of organizations on campus and the strain placed on a limited set of VSA funds for budget allocations.
These proposed amendments included a call for an active “core membership” to exist in all VSA organizations in order for the organization to become or remain certified. Organizations without 10 members, under the proposed language, would be in a position of being decertified. New organizations would be required to demonstrate having ten members, though that requirement could be waived. Another amendment stipulated that organizations that went two semesters without having any “organizational activity” would be decertified, and organizations that went one semester without programming, org reports, and without at least one meeting per month would be in danger of being decertified.
Ultimately, the Council voted to send the amendments concerning organizations back to the Activities Committee for further review.
Should numbers be the benchmark of assessing organizations? During the Council meeting, members discussed the dubious core membership quota. Some organizations, particularly small cultural clubs, may find it difficult to sustain a membership of 10 people. Furthermore, if a new organization presents itself as fulfilling a need of students on campus, several Council members argued that VSA should support it.
Warners noted that the bylaw could be waived if such an instance of a unique and valuable organization (with small membership) arose—but the language in the bylaw proposal at VSA on Sept. 23 did not reflect Warners’ argument.
The language of the proposed bylaw change has returned to the Activities Committee, and the entire section may very well return to Council in a completely revised form. Still, given the rough language that came to Council most recently, The Miscellany News finds it prudent to take this opportunity to strongly argue that the language and intentions of such bylaw changes should be clear, particularly in articulating the range of latitude that it will afford future councils.
Since Council will make a second attempt to pass revised bylaws later this semester, it is also imperative that Council take note of the flaws in the process for bylaw revision. The proposed bylaw change concerning certification was not brought to the specific attention of organization leaders. Organization leaders, particularly those of small groups, would be keenly interested to know about and to weigh in on decisions that could affect their standing as a VSA organization. VSA executive board members’ office hours are insufficient, especially if organization leaders are not made specifically aware of such de-certification conversations.
The interim week between the introduction of a proposed bylaw change to Council and the Council’s vote is a step in the right direction—but VSA should go an extra step to pay organization leaders the courtesy of informing them when their organization’s official status may hang in the balance. New language is currently being debated, and the Activities Committee should send organization heads an e-mail to notify them that such discussions that could affect the existence of small organizations are underway.
The Miscellany News strongly agrees that defunct or inactive organizations should not be part of the zero-sum game of VSA budget allocations. That said, membership size does not reliably reveal how active an organization is. The proposed bylaws that were sent back to Committee included a mention of organizations being in danger of being decertified if, among other circumstances, the organization does not meet at least once a month. Pursuing this model of examining the number of meetings within the organization (since meetings are often mini-events for members) would be fruitful.
A group with a huge membership that meets once a semester is not justifying its existence as an organization or even fulfilling the basic definition of a formal organization. On the other hand, a group wth four members that meets every other week and may require a large amount of budgeting (for equipment, for example) should be able maintain their status as a VSA-certified organization.
As the Activities Committee continues to revise the bylaws in order to clarify the expectations of certified VSA organizations, we are encouraged by VSA’s patience in crafting language and hope that the VSA will continue to postpone decisions such as bylaw changes when they require more time. In this added time, it would behoove the Committee to make organization heads aware of the possible changes under discussion. Constituents must trust their representatives to consider all possible consequences of bylaw changes, but constituents also must be able to trust that their representatives will keep them informed of large magnitude changes that may be on the horizon.
The staff editorial represents at least two-thirds of the 13-member editorial board.
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Alumnae/i posters are strongly encouraged to include their class year with their name. The maximum length for comments is approximately 100 words; longer responses should be submitted as letters to the editor to misc@vassar.edu. More information about our letters policy can be found on our Policies page.
