The Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a new amendment on Oct. 27 that will give the Senate and the VSA’s Internal Affairs Committee power to appoint students to officer positions.
Previously, the Elections and Appointments Commission was in charge of appointing student applications to open VSA positions. However, in hopes of giving the student body a greater say in the appointment process, VSA Vice President Miles Harris ’25 introduced the Democratizing Appointments Amendment (DAA).
“We had some issues with previous Elections and Appointments Commissions that led us to think more broadly about that process,” said Harris. “We thought it would make more sense to have the elected representatives of VSA select other representatives since those people were elected to represent student opinion.”
After the initial Senate vote, during which the amendment passed by more than a two-thirds majority, DAA was referred to a week-long period of review. Students were invited to submit comments on it during that period. The bill was co-sponsored by VSA president Emily Doucet ’25 and a senator from each class. On Oct. 27, the amendment was passed by a three-fourths majority and adopted as a part of the VSA bylaws.
“I believe that this amendment will give students more of a voice in the process,” said Ryan Baumann ’27.
Phoebe Bergan ’28 reflected on the impact of the VSA on her first semester at Vassar stating, “Well, I’m a freshman, so I don’t know much about what the VSA does and I haven’t gotten involved, so it’s not very clear to me exactly what roles they fill.” Bergan continued, “I think it [DAA] generally seems like a good thing, moving towards student representation, like student body general representation, as opposed to more of a hierarchy of representation.”
Moving forward, the Elections Commission, formerly the Elections and Appointments Commission, will still control VSA elections, which occur in the fall for the first-year class and the spring for the rest of the student body. In the future, the Elections Commission will be downsized from seven students to six. The commission will continue to operate separately from the rest of the VSA.
“I think most forms of student government usually struggle to actually implement student voices,” said Emmaline Pearson ’27. “So, I feel that trying to bolster student involvement in areas such as the appointment process could be quite impactful.”
The Internal Affairs Committee, which is composed of senators from all classes, as well as the VSA President and Vice President Harris, will review students’ applications for positions before bringing the applications to the Senate floor for review and approval. The appointment process is primarily relevant when a position is vacant, such as when a student steps down from a position mid-year.
In the coming weeks, the Internal Affairs Committee will send out an application through which students can apply to open VSA positions.
The Elections and Appointments Commission did not respond to the The Miscellany News’ request for comment.