Student Union President Herbie Rosen '12 has called for a constitutional review of the Student Union Constitution, two years before an official review would be mandated by the constitution, he said in an interview last night with the Justice.

According to Article XIII of the Student Union Constitution, a Constitutional Review Task Force instructed to conduct "a full review of all aspects of the Union" must be formed every four years.

The task force would comprise students from various constituencies, including secured groups, club sports, the Union Senate, artistic and performance organizations and religious organizations, as per the constitution.

Rosen said the review would be implemented due to questions that have been raised about the constitution.

"We are doing it because people have asked me to, … and I looked at [the Constitution] when I got elected and was just like, ‘I don't want to be the president of a Union with this as a constitution, '" said Rosen.

Rosen listed past troubles with the student elections voting system and the term lengths of senators as two issues that helped prompt the review.

"The voting system, the question of abstain and can that just be worded better—that's the main thing, making our constitution be more clear and less pretentious sounding," he said.

Earlier this year, a Justice review of election results revealed that the instant runoff election system used by the Union incorrectly tallied votes and failed to express voter desires in the election results. This tabulation error was largely due to the way the system counted the "abstain" vote.

At the time, Rosen said in an interview with the Justice that he would work to fix the voting problems.

"Honestly, this is something our union came to inherit. And it's things like this that get brought to our attention that we will move to correct and fix. Sorry for the confusion and inconvenience, but you can expect better from us in the future when we come up with a solution," he said.

The last Constitutional Review Committee was convened in fall 2009 by then-Student Union President Andy Hogan '11. The committee submitted 11 proposals to a vote by the student body after months of discussions and town hall meetings designed to hear student opinions.

Proposals by the 2009 committee included changes to the structure of the Student Union, added secured organizations, increased funding for BEMCo and the implementation of an instant runoff voting system, among others.

The student body approved eight of the 11 proposals, while students rejected major structural changes to the Student Union and did not grant secured status to Students for Environmental Action.

Rosen said, "We are a different Student Union, things have changed in two years. … We are not just going to copy what was done there."

Rosen expects the review process to formally begin later this semester. The constitution mandates that the task force submit its final proposals no later than the first week of March.

As mandated by the Union Constitution, the task force must be composed of one representative from each of the following groups: intercultural community, club sports, religious organization, artistic/performance organizations, secured major media organizations, secured non-media organizations, non-sports competition organizations, Division of Student Affairs, Student Union Executive Office, Student Union Finance Board and the Student Union Senate. Each constituency chooses its respective representative.

Rosen, as Union president, would be empowered to appoint three alumni, two members at large and one community advisor to the task force. He would also appoint a chair from among the representatives.