In response to student protests regarding ambiguities in campus policies, A.S. President Harry Khanna commissioned a task force to revise and consolidate documents regulating student government.

Student organizations complained about the inefficiency of A.S. Council rules — especially financial bylaws — earlier this year when the Student Funding Advisory Board bypassed funding for several groups because of constitutional technicalities.

The Ad Hoc Task Force on ASUCSD Constitution, Bylaws, Policies and Rules, appointed on June 6, consists of Khanna and six other councilmembers who will scrutinize each of the various council documents during fall quarter of next year.

“We probably will revise every single one,” Khanna said.

Contradictions between the A.S. constitution and bylaws, which govern the council’s activity, have proven troublesome during council meetings this past year, causing some councilmembers to stress the need for change to the documents.

“The A.S. bylaws haven’t been rewritten in decades, I think,” Khanna said. “We’re looking for a way to make A.S. … less bureaucratic.”

Another goal of the task force is to bring the council’s governing documents in line with the newest technical advancements available to make sure that all aspects of council affairs run as effectively as possible.

“We want to know how we can revise them to be up to date with all the new technologies,” Khanna said.

According to Khanna, the task force hopes to condense all the policies down to just a few to avoid conflicts like the bylaws and constitution contradicting one another.

“We’re checking every single detail,” he said.

The body will likely begin to discuss plans over the summer, and is set to begin its work one week prior to Welcome Week. Khanna said he believes that the task force will release five to six reports of its findings before the current council’s term ends. He hopes the first report will be released during the fifth week of fall quarter.

The application process for the task force was intensive and the time commitment will be high, Khanna said. Overall, he said he is optimistic about the changes that the task force could bring to the cohesiveness of the whole council.

“Once all is said and done, we’ll hopefully have made a really positive change for A.S.,” Khanna said.

Readers can contact Matt L’Heureux at [email protected].