The Associated Students of the University of Arizona Senate discussed updates to their election code and unanimously approved changes to the constitution during their meeting on Nov. 29. 

The proposed updates to the ASUA election code were presented by At Large Sen. Maya Kostov, who chairs the election and policy committee. 

Significant changes to the document include increasing the GPA requirement for candidates from 2.0 to 2.5 and an increase in the amount of signatures all candidates are required to attain before they can run. Those interested in running will need 25 more signatures than in the past to become candidates. 

“Because we have over 40,000 undergraduate students and you only need 25 signatures to run to represent a college, we wanted to increase the outreach that students get even just trying to get signatures,” Kostov said.

She especially emphasized the importance of finding student leaders that are passionate and already involved in their college communities. 

Provisions regarding social media campaigning and preventing littering with campaign materials were also added. 

Changes to the constitution included updating outdated verbiage and modifications to the amendment and recall processes. The new constitution was presented at the Nov. 15 meeting by College of Fine Arts Sen. Dylan Crites, chair of the constitution bylaw review committee. 

“Having a really good base of law and rules is important for student organizations,” Crites said. “It’s important that they’re up to date.”

Finally, the senators stated their desire to submit a letter to university administration criticizing the school’s current financial issues. This discussion was led by College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Sen. Doan Goolsby, who called the crisis an “utter shame” and proposed the creation of a committee to write the letter on behalf of the senate, which will require a unanimous vote. 

The senate will vote to approve the election code changes at their final meeting of the semester on Dec. 6 at the ASUA office on the third floor of the Student Union Memorial Center.

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