A unanimous vote approving the proposed changes to the Ungergraduate Student Senate capped off a month of discussion and four “Consitutional Convention” meetings at the USS meeting today.

“This is the most wide-sweeping, progressive and positive change that the student government has voted on since 1975,” said Ross Miltner, executive director of USS.

The charter changes include the reorganization of the All Campus Programming Board and the expansion of the current USS to create a two-body government consisting of an Executive Cabinet and a Senate.

Under the new structure, called the Undergraduate Student Government, there would be nine elected director positions similar to the current USS positions and 16 senator positions – 10 elected senators to represent the adademic colleges and six appointed senators to represent international students, non-traditional students, residence hall students, off-campus and commuter students and diversity.

The Director of Programming in the USG will chair the Programming Board Committee – the reorganized ACPB – and will be responsible for appointing undergraduate students to the committee.

Before the final USS vote, Donovan Hill, Allocation Committee member, announced his resignation from the committee.

In an address to the USS, Hill said he supported the proposed changes to the Allocation Committee, but he felt it would be “hypocritical” to continue holding a seat in the committee when one of the proposed changes is only allowing one member of an organization’s executive board to have a seat on the Allocation Committee. Hill, president of College Democrats, is on the Allocation Committee in addition to Christopher Taylor, communcations director of College Democrats.

The charter changes will be put as a referendum on the March 14 USS Election ballot for approval by the student body.

If the referendum passes and the Board of Trustees approves the plan, the new USG will take effect during the 2008-2009 academic year.

Contact news correspondent Jackie Valley at [email protected].