From: John P. Sadowski [] Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 8:11 PM To: 'avery-council@ugcs' Subject: Constitutional Amendments - Last Chance Qing is going to put these on the ballot as soon as he gets them, so if you want to make any changes, or offer other amendments, now is your time. Commentary appears after the ** ------------------------------ I, regarding Quora for Amendments First, that the sentence “A two-thirds quorum is also necessary for passage of an amendment” be stricken from Article VI, section 1 of the Constitution. Second, that if this amendment passes (i.e. gets a two-thirds vote with a two-thirds quorum), any other amendments proposed on the same ballot as this one shall be subject to the provision of this amendment. ** This amendment reduces the quorum needed to pass Constitutional amendments from 2/3 to 1/2, which is the default quorum for all House votes (see III.2). Amendments will still need a 2/3 majority of Yes over No votes to pass. ------------------------------ II, regarding Quora in General First, that in Article III, section 2, the word “Members” be replaced by “Residents”. Second, that if this amendment passes (i.e. gets a two-thirds vote with a two-thirds quorum), any other amendments proposed on the same ballot as this one shall be subject to the provision of this amendment. ** This changes the quorum for House votes from 1/2 of Members to 1/2 of Residents. This means we will not have a problem getting quora if we have a large number of non-Resident members, which seems likely. ------------------------------ III, regarding NO First, that the following sentence be inserted into Article III, section 4 after the third sentence of that section: “There shall also be a choice for NO, but that may only be ranked first if desired.” Second, that the following sentence be appended to Article III, section 4, clause a:  “If NO gets a majority of the votes, than that vote is considered invalid.” ** This requires that NO be a choice in elections, just like in ASCIT elections. ------------------------------ IV, regarding Voting Period and Extensions That in Article III, section 7, the words "24 hours." be stricken and replaced by the following: "specified in the Council motion or petition enabling the vote, but may not be more than 72 hours.  The motion or petition must also specify whether and how the voting period may be extended in the case that a quorum is not reached; but in no case may the total period of voting exceed the 72-hour maximum."  Also, that the remainder of section 7 be split into a separate section. ** This amendment specifies what happens if a quorum is not reached in a House vote. The original motion or petition enabling the vote may specify that the vote may be extended if a quorum is not met, but not beyond a 72-hour maximum for total voting time. ------------------------------ V, regarding Chancellors First, that in Article II, section 4, "six months" be changed to "three months". Second, that in Article III, section 1, “third term” be changed to “second or third term”. Third, that in Article III, sections 6 and 7, “Chancellor” be changed to “Vice Chancellor” wherever it appears. ** This changes the amount of time a person must be on the Council before running for Chancellor, from 6 to 3 months. It also allows for elections to be held second term, and corrects an ambiguity in the duties of the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor regarding elections. ------------------------------ VI, regarding Roompicks That in Article IV, section 2b, the words “in the general campus unaffiliated lottery” be stricken and replaced with “as the Avery Council shall arrange with Caltech Housing.” ** This gives us greater flexibility on how to run non-Member Avery roompicks. This process may be revised for this spring, but the Constitution currently limits us to using the campus unaffiliated lottery. Passing this amendment will allow the Council to explore other options. ------------------------------ VII, regarding Membership First, that the following phrase be appended to Article I, section 2: “if that person remains a current student of Caltech” Second, that the following section be inserted into Article I, between sections 1 and 2: “The membership of Avery at any time is limited to current Residents, and current students of Caltech even if non-Residents.” ** This clarifies that when you graduate (or are otherwise no longer at Caltech), you are no longer actively a member. ------------------------------ John ******************************************************************** From: John P. Sadowski [] Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 9:52 PM To: 'Qing Liu' Subject: RE: [Council] Constitutional Amendments - Last Chance Alright, change it to the following: Second, that the following section be inserted into Article I, between sections 1 and 2: "The membership of Avery at any time is limited to current students and faculty of Caltech.” John