A revised list of proposed changes to the Student Union Constitution will go to the student body for a vote in the coming weeks, following the constitutional changes that received the signatures of more than 10 senators Sunday night.

The revised Constitutional Review Task Force proposal tempers the initial expansion of authority for the Senate over the allocation of funds from the Student Activities fee.

It no longer grants the Senate approval power over decisions made by the Finance Board, which will be renamed the Allocations Board. The proposal, however, still places a Senate representative on the A-Board and requires the A-Board to publish its allocation decisions within one week of the distribution of the funds to clubs. As exists in the current constitution, the president holds veto power over the A-Board.

After consultation with various groups on campus, Student Union President Ricky Rosen '14 and Vice President Charlotte Franco '15-both members of the Constitutional Review Task Force-presented a revised list of proposed changes to the constitution at the Senate meeting on Sunday night.

Franco said in her presentation that she hoped the new constitution would bring the "clean start we so desperately need."


CEEF
The proposal calls for the Capital Expenditures fund-which is currently reserved for "finance emergencies or capital expenditure projects"-to be renamed the Community Enhancement and Emergency Fund.

The CEEF would hold $250,000 as opposed to CapEx's current $200,000 amount. Of the CEEF, $200,000 would be reserved for allocation for community enhancement projects and $50,000 would be reserved for emergencies.

The proposal established a CEEF Board, to which students can apply to receive funding for their projects. The CEEF Board would consist of two senators, one executive board member and one A-Board member. In the original constitutional review proposal, distribution of the CEEF funds would fall on the newly minted A-Board (previously F-Board). However, Rosen expressed at the Senate meeting that the additional responsibility would place too much strain on the workload of A-board members: "Their workload is too high for them to take on another responsibility like this," he said.

F-Board Member Aliza Kahn '15 said the proposal was a positive step because it takes the burden off of A-Board members, but allows for an A-Board perspective with one member on the CEEF board.

"I think the CEEF in general is a great idea because it allows individuals who are not necessarily affiliated with a certain club to get their ideas out and get funding," said Kahn in an interview with the Justice.

The proposal to add money to the CEEF for community enhancement projects emerged from the fact that there is often a large amount of Student Activities fee money leftover after the allocation periods end. The SAF creates a pool of about $1.5 million for allocations each year he said.

A-Board would be responsible for inputting the CEEF information into Student Union Management System while getting feedback from the other branches of the Union. "It's more inclusive because you get representative bodies in on that conversation in addition to [the] Finance Board," said Rosen.


Allocations Board
The current Finance Board will be renamed the Allocations Board, according to the proposal. The proposal also requires the A-Board to publish a report of its allocations after the marathon period for inspection by students and the Senate, said Rosen.

The original proposal gave the Senate the authority to confirm all A-Board decisions. However, Rosen said that individuals objected to the change, as it would be "adding unnecessary layers of bureaucracy to the process." The new proposal does not give the Senate approval authority.

Kahn said it is an improvement that the Senate no longer has approval power over the A-board, and that students should trust the elected representatives on the A-board.

"It would take a tremendous amount of time for the Senate to go through all of the allocations without really enough prior knowledge of how it works and why certain allocations were allocated," she said.

As stipulated in the original proposal, the Senate will appoint a senator to serve on the A-Board. That senator will go through all the same training as other A-Board members.

Secured Clubs
Under the new proposal, funding for secured clubs would be set within a certain range of funds for each secured club. The range was determined using current club funding as a benchmark.

For example, Student Events can receive between $200,000 and $250,000, according to the proposed change. WBRS can receive between $55,000 and $65,000.

The original constitutional review proposal had set allocations for each secured club in a percentage range. For example, Student Events would have received 12 to 15 percent of the SAF.

The percentage option was disavowed because it would mean increasing funding for each club each year.

The SAF amount is currently equal to one percent of tuition, so setting club funding as a percent of a percent would mean that funding will increase as long as tuition increases.

Other minor changes to the constitution include mandatory intra-Union meetings, a reduction in the document's word count, removing the petitions section and moving the definitions of clubs from the Senate bylaws to the constitution.

More than the required 10 senators signed on to constitutional changes, allowing them to be put to a vote before the student body. The date for the vote is April 7, according to a campus-wide email from Union Secretary Sneha Walia '15 sent on March 31.

The Constitutional Review Task Force-composed of Rosen, Franco, Chief of Staff David Clements '14, Class of 2014 Senator Andre Tran, North Quad Senator Brian Hough '17 and former senator Ben Beutel '12, an alumnus-was formed to address changes that need to be made to the constitution last fall.