Student Government Referendum
The Boston University Student Government is happy to announce the launch of its referenda process. The new system allows any undergraduate student to pose a question to the entire student body, assuming it satisfies all the conditions stipulated in Article IX of the Constitution. With this process, Student Government hopes to establish a direct line to the attitudes within the student body.
Referenda Process
The Structure
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The referenda process is in essence a petition. It contains four parts: a) submit of a question, b) attain the required signatures, c) pass Judicial Review, and finally d) be approved via majority vote in the Senate. Once these conditions are met, the question will then be included on the Student Government official ballot in April.
The petition can be brought forth by any undergraduate student at Boston University and must be in the form of a question. That question must be answerable in one of three ways; yes, no, or abstain. Any supporting documentation (statistics, graphics, written support) must be included in the petition. The question and supporting documentation can be submitted below. All submissions must be submitted from 9.2.26-2.20.27. Any submission out of this window will not be accepted. A petition must garner signatures equal to or larger than 5% of the votes cast in the prior year’s election to be eligible for Judicial Review. The exact required number will be made explicit to the petitioner once they’ve submitted their question. Signatures can only be collected from currently enrolled undergraduates, can only be collected from 9.2.26-3.1.27. The petition process will be administered by the Judicial Branch, which will use Qualtrics to ensure only BU undergraduates can sign petitions. The Qualtrics link will be given to the petitioner, with live signatures numbers available upon request.
Judicial Review
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Once a petition has reached the signature threshold prior to February 20th, the Justices convene to ensure the petition satisfies the conditions for an appropriate referendum. First, it must not violate the Undergraduate Student Government Constitution. Second, it must be related to, within the scope of, or under the purview of the Undergraduate Student Government’s work. Third, the signatures will be checked for their uniqueness. Should the petition be denied, the decision may be appealed. The Justices may require the text of the petition to be amended, to make sure it coheres with the Constitution as precedent sees it while preserving the meaning and spirit of the question upon appeal.Additional signatures may be gathered upon appeal. The petition may not be appealed following March 1st and it may only be appealed once. The Justices shall have the ultimate and final ability to approve or deny the petition pursuant to compliance with these requirements. Once Judicial Review is cleared, the question goes to the floor of the very next Senate meeting.
Legislative Review
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The Senate will vote on if they believe the question should appear on the ballot in April. Upon a simple majority vote, and assuming the vote happens before 3.15.27, the question will pass.
Voting and Impact
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The referendum will be sent to the Student Election Commission to be included on the annual election ballot. The Student Election Commission is responsible for certifying results and the results of all referenda will be announced with the election results. Following the passage of a referendum the Undergraduate Student Body President and Executive Board will deliver the results to the Student Government Advisor and University President. A report thereafter will be presented to the Senate regarding the status of the referendum after discussions with administration, assuming it pertains in some way to the work of the BU administration. Referendum results will be made available publicly and published to the Student Government website.
We highly recommend that before submitting a referendum question, one looks over Article XI of the Boston University Student Government Constitution.