Committees 'Mechanize' the ASC
By Stephen Russell
KU's All Student Council, the legislative branch of its student government which is officially called "The Associated Students of the University of Kansas," functions like a complex machine. It is constructed of simple machines which perform the intended function of student lawmaking.
These simple machines are the seven standing committees of the
First in a Series
ASC, ie. the committee on committees and legislation,the elections committee,the finance and auditing committee,the constitutional committee,the secretarial committee,the committee evaluation board,and the student athletic seating board.
THESE PERMANENT legislative committees were created by bills in the ASC Constitution and additional committees can be provided for through the additional bills.
The ASC Constitution also allows the ASC to create special temporary or ad hoc committees. These committees enable the legislative machine to provide for matters which can't be predicted, or which don't come up on a yearly basis.
They are temporary in that they are established either by the ASC chairman or a resolution. They exist only until they accomplish their purpose. It is possible they could be made into permanent standing committees if the ASC decided their function was of a major and lasting importance. This could be accomplished by the passage of a bill amending the section of the Constitution providing for the particular committee.
THERE ARE THREE such temporary committees now in existence: the pre-enrollment committee, the living group officers' meeting committee, and the ASC retreat committee.
Membership for all the legislative committees is taken directly from the ASC through appointments made by the ASC Chairman. The length of a member's term on a committee, according to the ASC Constitution, is left to the "pleasure of the appointing officer."
Mike McNally, Bartlesville, Okla., junior and ASC chairman, said the implementation of everything the ASC does goes out through these committees. In his opinion, they perform the actual work of the ASC by researching proposed programs, keeping in contact with the students and
faculty for their opinions and needs, and providing a place for the initial discussion of proposed legislation.
IN THIS WAY, he said, the committees make the ASC more effective by allowing it to get more accomplished and by making it easier for its members to be more active representatives of their constituents. If the council had to perform all of the committees' functions in its assembly meetings, much time would be wasted and nothing would ever be accomplished.
In the past, McNally added, criticism has arisen that student government functions through the work of only a few dedicated people. This is unfortunate since it takes the effort of all the council members to "get the job done." By better organizing the duties of representing the students, the committees also make
it easier for the members to be more active in student government, he said.
McNally described the seven standing committees as being of two types or classifications: "internal affairs" committees and "unique" committees.
HE CALLED THE committee on committees and legislation, the elections committee, the finance and auditing committee, the constitutional committee, and the secretarial committee "internal affairs" committees because he said they deal with internal operations or functions of the ASC itself.
"They are in existence primarily to carry out the administrative work of the council." McNally said.
HE DESCRIBED the committee evaluation board and the student athletic seating board as being unique because he said
they are not directly connected with the council's operating procedure, as the internal affairs committees are. They are legislative rather than executive committees though, because of their importance and in the case of the student athletic seating board, because it takes student opinion directly into consideration in its functions.
The membership of the committees was renewed last December 14, because of the addition of the newly elected fall living district representatives. All 42 ASC representatives were appointed to positions on one of the committees and will be serving there until their term on the Council expires or until they are removed by the ASC Chairman.
8 Daily Kansan Wednesday, January 5, 1966
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