Students this week will have a chance to interact with two different constitutions.On Wednesday and Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the Student Activities Board will be hosting activities on the campus Mall, such as a free speech wall and Constitutional signing to help the
community celebrate Constituition Day.
It was September 17, 1787 when the U.S. Constitution was signed by thirty-nine brave men who changed the course of history. Now Constitution Day is a time for us to continue their legacy and develop habits of citizenship in a new generation of Americans. This American holiday celebrates the history of our constitution and laws and principles that define the rights of American citizens and sets limits on what the government can and cannot do.
Students will also be taking a constitutional vote on those days. The students of Honolulu Community College have a constitution which defines and guides the Student Government. This is a vote to remove the current constitution and start anew.
If this vote passes, all HCC students will be invited to a series of planning meetings to work through ideas on what the new organization should entail. Students can write the Constitution. Once they have a prototype, there would be another vote to adopt the new organization. Why start all over?
Unfortunately, interested and excited students got frustrated with the layers of bureaucracy and expressed that student governance was not functioning, as it should. The Constitution and Bylaws are believed to be part of the problem. The vote happening this week would be to “clean the slate.”
If you are interested in being more active in the planning meetings for the new HCC Student Government, contact Student Life & Development at .
