AMS President Eric Sikich called an emergency virtual AMS Assembly meeting on the morning of Dec. 15 for later that day at 6 p.m. Assembly was supposed to vote on an addition to elections policy.
Quorum was not reached at the emergency session; only 13 individuals attended. didn’t vote on motions outlined in the agenda because of this, and formal business was shelved to January.
“We were really debating on the specific ability and transparency that a candidate has to meet in- of requirements in running for office,” Amir-Ali Golrokhian-Sani, AMS secretary of internal affairs, said at the meeting.
The addition to elections policy would require elected candidates to fill out a table with hours of commitment over the summer, winter, and fall during their tenure. The table has space for candidates to note hours of commitment for extracurriculars, academics, and work.
The intent is for the table to be made public to voters for review on the ballot, with the specific nature of the time commitments mentioned in the table private unless a candidate chooses to personally disclose more information.
“We should make sure we’re maintaining privacy for candidates […] candidates just estimate their time, and that’s totally fine. [They estimate] their hourly commitment averaged over the semester,” Golrokhian-Sani said. “These are external to the job they’re doing.”
Changes to elections policy would impact some elections the AMS conducts, according to Golrokhian-Sani. These include the Rector, Undergraduate Trustee, Speaker, and AMS executive elections.
Attendees asked questions about the verification of the numbers put into the table. Golrokhian-Sani said these numbers would be at the discretion of the candidate. He said this policy change gives Assembly a greater chance to hold individuals able with their time commitments.
As the policy stands, there is no information giving voters a benchmark of what a “normal” time commitments entails.
“If someone can provably provide a standard as a reference point, then [the candidate] can put down their blurb and explanation so that we can talk about that further,” Golrokhian-Sani said.
He said it is difficult to put down a specific benchmark for how much time individuals in elected office spend outside their roles because jobs are significantly different.
The motion was tabled for an e-vote by Assembly , with business formally being ed at a future Assembly.
In other business, the AMS intends on changing the date of the annual general meeting to March 9, 2023, instead of April 6.
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