With the impending separation of the University of Arizona's two student government bodies, the Associated Students must begin the process of rewriting their constitution and bylaws.

"We are trying to amend the constitution to make it work without the GPSC," said Gilbert Davidson, Undergraduate Senate chairman.

ASUA and the Graduate and Professional Student Council decided to end their three year union because they thought they could better serve their constituents as single entities. The separation will be official when the organizations sign an agreement.

The ASUA constitution incorporates GPSC into a tricameral legislative branch made up of the Undergraduate Senate, GPSC and the Central Coordinating Council, a group composed of Associated Students and GPSC representatives.

ASUA President Rhonda Wilson said the constitution must be amended to deactivate GPSC seats in the legislative branch.

"We have a need for temporary measures because everyone who was elected last Spring is covered under the old constitution," she explained.

Sen. Lauren Sliger said the Senate has begun working out the details of removing the CCC from ASUA bylaws. She said CCC needs to be eliminated because, without the participation of GPSC, the legislative branch lacks the balance of power set out by the constitution.

"The GPSC is already an inactive body because they no longer come to any of our meetings," she said.

Sliger said she expects a vote on the elimination of CCC within the next month.

Erin Russell, ASUA vice president for programs and services, said elimination of the CCC would create the need for major reorganization of the legislative branch.

"The CCC had a lot of responsibilities, and without them we will need to establish an entirely new system of checks and balances," she said.

Russell said ASUA is still in the process of formulating ideas, but she predicts the Senate will have to establish its own system of internal checks and balances.

Davidson said a constitutional change to eliminate the CCC would be a temporary measure to keep the legislative branch operational until a new constitution is drafted and approved.

A new constitution that does not involve the GPSC "will make all of our lives a lot easier," he added.

GPSC President Alex Sugiyama said his organization, unlike ASUA, has no immediate plans to develop a new constitution when the split is finalized.

"When we merged with ASUA three years ago, our constitution was incorporated into their bylaws. I don't think there is any reason to come up with a whole new set of rules," he said.

Sugiyama said GPSC was often frustrated with the inflexibility of the ASUA constitution, and added, "as an organization we prefer to be very flexible."

Davidson said the ASUA constitution needs to be strict to protect the interests of students.

"If you are going to spend student money you have to abide by rules. You cannot be flexible."

Davidson said the process of writing and approving a new constitution is likely to extend through much of the academic year. He said the first step will be a constitutional convention later this fall, where students will be invited to share their ideas with ASUA representatives.

Once a new constitution has been drafted and approved by ASUA, the student body will have a chance to vote for its approval at the ASUA general elections in the spring, Davidson explained.

Russell said she would like to see a lot of freshmen and sophomores contribute their ideas for a constitution because they will be directly affected by the new document over the next few years.

"I think we need as much student input as possible because it will be their constitution and they are going to have to live with it," she said.

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