The Lantern

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Campus

Kenny Greer/The Lantern "Abolish USG" is written outside of University Hall Sunday. Members of Board of Undergraduate Students hope to replace USG.

Ohio State students will soon be able to decide if the Board of Undergraduate Students will replace the Undergraduate Student Government.

"This is an opportunity for students to decide if they want more of the same or a different form of governance," said Olivia Bumb, a USG senator who initiated this reform.

BUS is a new form of student government, developed by a small group of students with the goal of completely transforming USG. If they can collect 1,400 signatures in support of it, the initiative will appear on the election ballot early spring quarter for students to vote on.

"Internal reform is not a way to create successes," said Kate Christobek, USG's president. "If we take a step back and try to reform internally, we will be losing ground working on what we could be doing for students."

Along with Christobek, other prominent USG members, such as Vice President Pete Steele and Speaker of the Senate Matt Dodovich, are opponents of this initiative.

However, Bumb thinks a structural reform is necessary to be able to give students what they want.

"I have been doing some straw (polling) to see what students think of USG," she said. "The most common responses I get are: 'What is it?' or 'They suck.' If students don't think that we are doing our job, then I am in no position to tell them otherwise. The customer is always right."

In the BUS constitution, Bumb, along with Chris Skovron, a freshman in political science and English, proposed two major changes to the present government: restructuring the executive and legislative branch and altering the manner in which legislation is submitted.

USG's executive branch has 10 members, including the president and vice president. Under BUS' constitution, the entire executive branch will be eliminated except for the president. USG's legislative branch, which currently contains about 50 senators, will instead become a board of 13, Skovron said.

"There is no way only a small body of people can cover all of those issues," Christobek said. "By shrinking the manpower, you are shrinking thoughts and diversity and making a more elitist group of people."

By eliminating almost all of the executive members, BUS' form of government is creating a more egalitarian group of people, Skovron said.

"It will be cutting down the executive powers of the president," he said.

Under USG's constitution, only senators can propose bills or referendums to the senate. Bumb and Skovron said they want to change this by allowing students to submit bills directly to the board.

"It's a who you know game. The likelihood of getting money increases if you know someone on the senate," Bumb said.

However, Christobek said the point of only allowing senators to submit legislation is so that students have help and do not have to make the effort alone.

"It is having an advocate to have a senator on your side" she said.

In the event that this initiative receives two-thirds of the vote, it will not be implemented until the 2009-10 school year. Next year would simply be a transition year for the government to learn how to adjust to the new constitution, Skovron said.

Cara Shirley can be reached at shirley.34@osu.edu.

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