Justification of Referendum
By Philip Kopczynski '03

Many students have been confused by or questioned the legitimacy of the ASPC Senate's decision to place the Iraq war resolution on Tuesday's ballot. Making no attempt to address the content of the resolution, I would like to clarify three more general misunderstandings. First, the purpose of the resolution is purely symbolic. It can be thought of as a sort of opinion poll of the student body. Second, the Senate itself did not endorse the resolution; rather it merely decided to place the resolution on the ballot for the consideration of the entire student body. Third and most importantly, many students have questioned whether the Senate has the right to put something of this nature on the ballot. The justification for this decision comes from the ASPC constitution. Article IV, Section 4 reads in part, "Any matter over which a governing body or committee of ASPC has jurisdiction may be brought to a vote of the ASPC . . . by a majority vote of the Senate." As for the question of whether this is a matter over which the ASPC has jurisdiction, consider Article II, Paragraph 1: "ASPC is created to provide for reasonable and effective student participation in the governance of the College and provide a governance structure for the students of Pomona College. ASPC shall serve as the representative voice of the students both on and off campus." Also consider Article III, which reads in part, "As the only elected representatives of the entire student body, the ASPC Senate is responsible for the following . . . To serve as a forum for students to voice their concerns, and to respond to such student concerns."

This is the procedural justification for the resolution. However, the Senate is its own judge and there was some disagreement among individual members. Several members did not believe the Senate has the right to place a resolution of this nature on the ballot. The discussion was heated and the final vote was 7-3-2. Voting the affirmative (that is, in support of putting the resolution on the ballot) were Ji Chong '03, Stacy Roth '03, Josh Tulkin '03, Evan Sirc '03, Cory Forsyth '03, Galen Benshoof '06 and Sierra Ferguson '05. Voting in the negative were Sam Gaines '03, Sam Glick '04 and Julia Patzelt '03. Tanya Laguerre '03 and I abstained. I encourage interested students to contact these individuals and ask them why they voted as they did. Also feel free to contact the newly elected members of next year's Senate and tell them whether you think ASPC should continue to do things like this in the future.