The slim college council approval of the exhaustive overhaul to student government last week has some reformers questioning if their plan could have drummed up more support if several college deans had not publicly criticized it.

The new constitution governing university politics was ratified by four of six college councils – the minimum number needed to implement the document – with the last vote made by the John Muir College Council after an hours-long debate.

Many councilmembers argued over the swap of elected college officials for ones elected by the entire campus, a part of A.S. President Harry Khanna’s attempt to trailblaze a new form of university politics.

Several deans spoke out against the constitution during the ratification process, sparking inquiries into deans’ role in college politics and whether they overstepped their advisory bounds in publicly challenging the student legislation.

“”I doubted that college councils would ever ratify our proposal when some of the deans are so ardently against the new constitution,”” Khanna stated in an e-mail to the A.S. Council announcing the document’s approval.

Muir Dean of Student Affairs Patty Mahaffey, the only one of the deans to have a vote on their respective college councils, voted against the reformed constitution but did not return a call for comment. MCC eventually approved the constitution by a vote of 9-7.

Khanna, along with a task force of A.S. councilmembers, was a key author of the revised policies. He said many, including the opposing deans, perceived his plan as an “”attack on the college system,”” which previously allotted 24 voting positions on the A.S. Council to college senators.

Under the new constitution, that number would be halved in favor of all-campus representation.

Sixth College Dean James Stascavage said that his biggest and only concern lay in the dramatic reconstruction of the A.S. Council senate. The Sixth College Student Council approved the constitution 8-2.

“”While it is unlikely, it is now possible under the new structure that very few senators could come from most colleges, and many senators could come from one college,”” Stascavage stated in an e-mail.

But deans, who serve as advisers on paper, should not be allowed to take a public stance on student issues, Eleanor Roosevelt College Senior Senator Erik Rodriguez-Palacios said.

Rodriguez-Palacios also said that he often clashes with his own dean, Patricia Goen.

“”I never understood why the dean is automatically the adviser to the council and why the adviser is a member of the student council,”” Rodriguez-Palacios stated in e-mail. “”The adviser for the student council at ERC is in no way accountable to either the student council or to students and should therefore not be a member of the council.””

ERC ended up ratifying the constitution 13-3, but Rodriguez-Palacios, a member of Khanna’s task force, said that Goen’s opposition could have swung the vote the other way “”if the task force was not there to stand up to fight for what the students wanted.””

Rodriguez-Palacios also said that he will advocate more scrutiny of deans’ roles when the college councils revisit their own governing documents in the coming months. Goen did not return a call for comment.

Deans do serve as integral counsel to students new to the college system, according to Revelle College Junior Senator Heidi Laidemitt, who also serves on the task force.

Other student politicians agreed, saying that the institutional knowledge offered by deans benefit the campus’ student politicians, who usually only serve one term and have no long-term reference for their decisions.

“”[Revelle College Dean Renee Barnett Terry] is a knowledgeable source for our council,”” Laidemitt stated in an e-mail. “”As an adviser, she makes time to meet with our councilmembers and help them develop in their positions. As a nonvoting member on our council, she is our most direct connection to Revelle College and the campus.””

Within Revelle College Council meetings, Terry was vocal about her opposition to Khanna’s plan. She was unavailable for comment.

Revelle College rejected the constitution 6-7, but Laidemitt said Terry had no bearing on the decision.

Two college deans, Earl Warren College’s Paul Dewine and Thurgood Marshall College’s Ashanti Hands, voiced no public opinions on the constitutional reform.

Warren’s student council ratified the new rules unanimously, while Marshall, in effect, rejected it because it failed to meet the minimum number of approving votes needed for passage.

Khanna said he respected the two deans’ decisions to leave “”this A.S. constitution issue truly a student issue and let the students make up their minds.””