Changes to Constitution overturned

by Margaret O'Reilly

The Students Union Constitution went to referendum during the recent student elections. The constitution was overturned under Article 15.1 of the document. Article 15.1 states that "All amendments to the constitution shall require a) At least ten days notice on University noticeboards

b) Notice at a minimum of one Union Council meeting of both the intention and form of the amendments.

c) Notification of the same to be conveyed in writing to the Guardianship of the Constitution."

The Constitution details the aims and objectives of the Students Union in Maynooth and how these aims and objectives are to be achieved. The Union Executive Officer board, the structure of the Union Counci, membership of the Union and the rights and obligations of staff and members are also detailed in the document.

The Student Union Constitution was to become effective after 12:01 pm on the day following confirmation of the March 8th referendum and would supercede and revoke all previous constitutions of the Students Union. The fact that the referendum was overturned means that the voters were not properly informed of what was going to referendum. A copy of the proposed referendum has been made available on the Student Union website http://www.nuimsu.com but perhaps these results show that this was not enough. Perhaps copies of the drafted Constitution should have been made more readily available to students of the university so that the voters would be better informed on the day of the election.

If the student body had been more aware of what they were voting for, perhaps the outcome would have been different. These results show taht a copy of the constitution posted on the website obviously isn't enough to inform the body of students of the constitution and what it contains.