The Undergraduate Student Government Assembly elected a new USG Vice President last week. USG Speaker Roshina Khan and Assemblymen Saad Jamil and Alex Rodgers were running for the position. Jamil was elected.
At Thursday's meeting, each of the three candidates gave a three minute speech in a secret executive session before the vote.
The voting was done in a tier-based system, which is composed of rounds. At the end of each round, the candidate with the lowest amount of votes is released from the ballot, and the second round then decides the winner.
The first round saw a tie between the candidates with the lowest number of votes. Under normal conditions, the vice president would cast a vote to break the tie. As Roshina Khan was the acting vice president and had no say in the matter, her office was handed over to President Damian Wolak, who cast his vote for the tie-breaker. Khan had the lowest number of votes and was thus the first eliminated. The second round saw Saad Jamil win by a margin of twelve votes over Alex Rodgers, who tallied six.
The assembly also passed legislation that allows them to supersede the constitution and enact amendments voted on to take effect immediately with a three fourths vote and the written consent of the advisor, instead of the usual way of business where amendments to the constitution take effect the next year.
In response to this new way of doing business, Wolak expressed slight concern to the Flame. He thinks that this "opens up the potential to let things slip through the cracks" and "takes away the essence of the old assembly," and also added that he is "glad the advisor has the final say."
In other news, the Undergraduate Student Government is hosting a Student Leadership Summit on Nov. 23. They will be welcoming University of Illinois Trustee Carlos Tortolero from 3-5. For more information, contact usguic@gmail.com
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