The Illinois Student Senate’s Commission on Constitutional Reform will unveil its proposed new constitution to the senate at Wednesday’s meeting.

The new constitution will not be discussed in-depth Wednesday because it is listed as a subject to call in the agenda. However, the commission will notify the senate that the proposed new constitution will be discussed in a special senate meeting Friday. 

Vice President-External Jenny Baldwin said the revised document brings some major changes to the structure of the senate.

“I think it makes the senate more centralized, and it clarifies a lot of things that are in our current governing documents,” she said. “It’s just a restructuring of a lot of places where things get lost in the shuffle. It clarifies a lot of duties and who’s responsible for what.”

She said many senators who have been around for a few years have noticed issues with the current constitution and wanted to work to clarify it.

Shao Guo, vice president-internal, said the proposed constitution adds an executive branch to the student government that will execute whatever legislation the senate issues. If passed, the constitution would also add a presiding officer to senate proceedings.

The presiding officer is proposed to be the new speaker of the senate, taking on some of the current roles of the student body president. The presiding officer would be a member of the senate’s executive board, which is referred to as the “executive cabinet” in the proposed constitution.

Guo also said the proposed changes remove member caps on committees and will change their name to “councils.” The maximum percentage of senators allowed on councils will remain as is, but the removal of this cap serves to facilitate more student voices within the senate.

“Why not (use) more students?” Guo asked. “The more students, the better to determine the policies for this University.”

Tyler can be reached at [email protected].