Senators on the A.S. Council voted on Feb. 9 to indefinitely table proposed legislation and a student referendum to reduce college council representation on the campuswide body. Though the move neither approves nor rejects the plan, the vote makes it unlikely that the proposed constitutional changes will come before students when they vote in April.

The legislation, tabled by a vote of 16 to 4, sought to significantly reduce the number of college-based representatives on the council in exchange for an increased role by students who are not connected to their college councils. The council voted to table the corresponding referenda, which would have put changes before students, by a vote 14 to 6.

The failed constitutional changes, introduced by Sixth College Senior Senator Matt Corrales, proposed to replace the current A.S. Council membership, which includes only college senators, with a system of six college-based and six general representatives.

Currently, all of the council’s 24 senators, one for each college and grade level, serve as representatives of their college to both Associated Students and their college councils.

By electing representatives who are not accountable to specific college councils, Corrales said that he hoped to improve the council’s ability to effectively represent students.

“The senate serves as a hindrance to organizing around issues that students care about, like fee increases,” Corrales said. “With general representatives, colleges shouldn’t matter. Their first responsibility would be to the whole student body.”

Many members of the council, however, opposed the changes. Thurgood Marshall College Junior Senator Kate Pillon said that the problems with the current election methods were not due to the structure of the council but to the individual senators.

“We need to look at the way we do our jobs before we change who does the job,” Pillon said. “Right now, people do not solicit information from their constituents. But everyone is represented by class and college, regardless of how they feel.”

The proposal would also effectively eliminate the voice of freshmen from the council, according to Revelle College Senior Senator Ted McCombs.

“This referendum is not appropriate because we will completely lose the freshman vote, because no college is going to have their one representative be a freshman,” McCombs said.

The legislation also sought to give voting rights to the three A.S. vice presidents and all of the various elected commissioners. Currently, these positions do not include a voting position on the council, though executive and commissioner members possess much expertise on many of the issues it addresses, according to Corrales.

A.S. President Jenn Pae first introduced the concept of changing the structure of the council. In the Feb. 2 council meeting, Pae asked the members to discuss the possibility of changing the system to include two senators from each college and 12 members at large who would be elected in a universitywide election.

Though the legislation and corresponding referendum submitted on Feb. 9 were effectively defeated, many members of the council said that the structure of the council should be changed. Some, however, said they could offer better alternatives to the proposal.

“I would recommend an issue-based system, which is structured around commissions and their staffs,” McCombs said. “And each representative should be working on a commission.”

Despite the council’s decision not to let this legislation come before the students, many councilmembers said that decisions affecting the structure of the A.S. Council should be addressed by the students.

“Ultimately, the council should not be deciding such a large issue,” Pae said. “The students, as a single voice, should decided if their representative body is representing them or not.”

In its next meeting, the council will vote on referenda asking whether students voting in the next general election feel well represented by the A.S. Council. In addition, the referenda would poll student sentiment on whether the council should include equal numbers of college-based and general representatives.