When students take to the polls on Wednesday and Thursday next week to determine next year’s Student Association executive board positions, they can also vote on proposed changes to the SA constitution. The changes will not be voted on individually, but as a group — voters in disagreement with any changes should not support the referendum, according to Mary Leonardo, Elections Committee chair.

The majority of the changes are clarifications and specifications of the powers and duties of executive board members. The referendum needs two-thirds of voters’ approval to pass.

The vice president for multicultural affairs position, which has seen more than its share of controversy in recent years, is given additional constitutional duties in the new version, including working with different University offices. The VPMA would also be required to work with the vice president for academic affairs “in ensuring that academia is sufficiently diverse.”

According to Maryam Belly, the current VPMA, these are changes she was planning to propose herself.

“Almost every single one of them were exclusively my idea,” Belly said. “These are things that I tried to do last semester and plan on continuing next semester. Hopefully the student body will see the necessity of them in making the VPMA a stronger position.”

The changes were authored by SA President Matt Landau and were approved by the Rules Committee on Feb. 19. It passed the Assembly on March 2. The Assembly’s vote to pass the changes to a referendum was unanimous except for one clause change, detailing who can have the position of Assembly chair, according to current Chair Josh Berk. The contested clause allows executive board members to become Assembly chair, which some believe hurt the separation between the executive and legislative branches of the SA, he said. The clause was not changed.

Check sa.binghamton.edu for more information.