Constitution of the Student Body of Wabash College

The Constitution of the Student Body of Wabash College is the fundamental document under which the Wabash College student government (the Student Body of Wabash College) is organized.

Background

In the Spring of 2004, a grass-roots attempt by Wabash College students to overrule a $20,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity by the Student Senate of Wabash College-the legislative body of the student government-failed due to confusion about the rights of students regarding their student government. Due to inconsistencies within the then standing rules of the Student Senate — a document that was proposed as a Student Senate Constitution but never ratified — Brandon Hayes, then President of the Student Senate, appointed a Constitutional Review Committee, under the direction of then freshman Brett Gann, to draft a new constitution.

The committee worked for a semester developing a new Constitution based on the previous standing rules and other student government conventions. In the Fall of 2004, a Constitutional Convention of the Student Senate was held to debate and adopt the proposed document. Although the document was adopted by the convention, the necessary two-thirds approval by the college's several living-units (including dormitories and fraternity chapters) was not achieved.

The Constitution Review Committee addressed the concerns of the dissenting living-units, which was primarily the specificity of the document, and the Student Senate adopted a second draft which was ratified by two-thirds of the living-units in the Spring of 2005.

Signers

Representatives of the living-units, as well as the President and Vice-President of the Student Senate and the Chairman of the Constitutional Review Committee signed the document on the twenty-sixth day of April in the year 2005.

The signers of the Constitution, in the order that their names appear on the document, were Ross Barrett Dillard (Beta Theta Pi), Janathan J. Grandoit (College Hall), Simon Blaze Hoehn (Delta Tau Delta), Nicholas Scott Gregory (Kappa Sigma), Timothy Charles Flowers (Lambda Chi Alpha), James Frederick Stephens (Martindale Hall), Kevin Matthew Pazour (Morris Hall), Joseph Randall Seger (Phi Delta Theta), Ben Aaron Cunningham (Phi Gamma Delta), Jeffrey Robert Sostak (Phi Kappa Psi), Benjamin Paolo Malig Abratigue (Sigma Chi), Eric Michael Eder (Tau Kappa Epsilon), Andrew John Leshovsky (Theta Delta Chi), Matthew Justice Bredefeld (Wolcott Hall), Donald Eugene Claxon (Wabash Men Living Off Campus), Gregory Michael Mahoney (President of the Student Senate), Brett Thomas Gann, Jr. (Chairman for the Constitution), Andrew James Wells (Vice-President of the Student Senate).

The document hangs in the hallway near the college president’s office as a reminder to him that the student body is a self-governing institution. The Constitution was instituted in January of 2006 when the First Convocation of the Student Senate of Wabash College was called to order. Convocations, Presidencies, and Vice-Presidencies are numbered beginning in 2006.

The First Amendment

In the Spring of 2006, a movement started among Wabash students to recreate the Senior Council. That student governing body had previously dissolved itself after losing political efficacy at the end of the 1960s. The Student Senate succeeded that body and has governed uninterrupted since that time.

This movement led to the ratification of an amendment which reconstituted the Senior Council, relieving the Student Senate of some responsibilities. The modern Council, though created in the spirit of its predecessor, is significantly different than the original Senior Council in composition and authority.

Student Senate Composition Argument

The Student Senate has twice proposed amendments to the Student Body to decrease the size of the Student Senate by reducing the number of class representatives. In both attempts, the amendments were narrowly defeated. The Constitution, Bylaw and Policy Review Committee determined after the second failure that it was not the interest of students to make such further drastic changes to the student government. It agreed not to propose similar legislation until it was apparent that the students' interest had changed.

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