SGA fails to pass constitutional changes despite popular voting events

Although the constitution was not amended in the most recent election, SGA has worked with UPB to publicize voting more, and it hopes to get the amendments approved by the student body next year. Photo by RENEE ELEFANTE, managing editor

Chapman University’s Student Government Association (SGA) held its elections in early March of this year but was unable to amend the constitution due to a low student body input rate, which was voted upon through an online voting platform this year. 

Among other changes, the amendments would have brought in more student-body senators to increase representation among the student body.

The 2023 election determined Chapman’s new student president, vice president and academic and greek student organization senators. The election also allowed students to vote on proposed amendments to the Student Government Association constitution. 

According to an SGA instagram post, 90.87 percent of voters voted ‘yes’ to the constitutional revisions, but SGA needed at least 20% of the student population to vote in total. Only 16.1% did so during the three-day voting period — not enough for it to pass.

Despite the lack of votes needed to amend the constitution, Maddye Ta, a junior studying environmental science and policy at Chapman, said that the election was well-publicized and organized.

“I have a few friends and sorority sisters in SGA, so they made me aware of voting the day before, but it was advertised around campus,” Ta said. “SGA also did a really good job of having people out and about the first day of voting with QR codes readily available.”

The revised constitution showcased many changes to better address student representation on campus. Instead of SGA only having one upperclassman and one underclassman senator, the amendments would have allowed for two first-year senators, one sophomore senator, one junior senator and one senior senator to occupy the board. 

Another amendment would have added a fourth ad hoc committee, which is a temporary committee designed for a specific task that SGA may want to work on during a given time period. 

Ta voted in support of the amendments to the constitution. 

“After reviewing the changes made to the constitution and seeing how much hard work gets put into making these changes, I chose to vote to improve the efficiency of SGA and make the necessary changes to help better serve the Chapman community,” Ta told the Panther.

The third change that was proposed to the constitution included inviting ex-officio members to the senate, meaning that other Chapman councils and committees could send their representatives as honorary members of the SGA senate. Specifically, Chapman Panhellenic, Chapman Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the student Athlete Advisory Committee would have been invited, according to a post on SGA’s Instagram regarding the constitutional amendments. 

Chapman SGA publicized the 2023 election by sending out emails to students, putting up flyers around the Orange Campus, posting on their Instagram account and even holding a voting competition among Greek Life for prizes. SGA also hosted a giveaway for a pair of Airpod Maxes to random students that voted.

Additionally, SGA worked with Chapman’s University Program Board (UPB) to host a voting event called “Drop-A-Vote” on Musco Lawn on March 6. The Drop-A-Vote event had SGA x UPB merchandise and free food vouchers from Blue Bowl, Sodexo or Contra. There was also  a Habit burger food truck offering free burgers to students who voted. 

Sophomore history major Anya Nguyenkhoa, SGA’s director of elections, said that despite a deficit in votes to pass the constitutional changes, voter turnout was higher this year for SGA.

“Historically, SGA experiences low turnout when it comes to the constitutional election,” Nguyenkhoa told the Panther “However, this year with our partnership with UPB and different incentives, we saw a slight increase in our turnout.”

Rachel Lin, the on-campus entertainment director of UPB, was impressed with the student involvement in the voting event collaboration. 

“I wouldn’t say there was a low turnout of students,” Lin told the Panther. “In retrospect, the turnout was higher when compared to the attendance of typical on-campus entertainment events.” 

However, Lin brought up how a change in the location of the event could have increased the number of students who attended.

“I believe we could have had a higher turnout of student voters in retrospect to the duration of the event if the event could have taken place in the piazza rather than Musco Lawn,” Lin said. “But due to scheduling conflicts, the piazza was unavailable.”

In terms of the new constitution not being passed, Ta said that the deficit in votes could have been due to students not being informed enough about what the changes would do for Chapman. 

“While a lot of people were motivated to vote and showed up (to the event), I feel like a lot of people voted to not change the constitution because they weren’t really educated on the voting options and what it actually meant,” Ta said. “I feel like many people either didn’t really read or understand the changes being made or voted randomly just to get the free food.”

After the 2023 election, SGA still plans to find ways to update the constitution to better support the student body.

“Now that the constitution hasn’t been passed, we are exploring other avenues already established in our operating documents and constitution to make sure the amendments are in place for next year,” Nguyenkhoa said.