PROPOSAL TO THE STUDENT COUNCIL OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL

TO:

STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT CECILIA ZHOU AND THE STUDENT COUNCIL

OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL

FROM:

LUCAS FERRER, ANSELM KIZZA-BESIGYE, AND ZOE REID

SUBJECT:

THE ADDITION OF STUDENT BODY REFERENDUMS TO THE CONSTITUTION

OF THE STUDENT COUNCIL OF CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL
JANUARY 16, 2016
DR. LAUREN MARTINI AND MR. OLIVER MORRIS, ADVISERS TO THE
STUDENT COUNCIL

DATE:
CC:

Overview
For the entirety of its existence, the Student Council of Choate Rosemary Hall has been an
advocate for students, allowing them to shape the school. The Student Council has improved the school in
countless ways, from creating the Judicial Committee to introducing a Sexual Amnesty policy to the
Student Handbook. What is lacking from the Student Council, however, is a tool to accurately understand
and represent the vox populi, the voice of the people, in issues that affect the entire student body.
The Council does have some means in place of doing this, albeit on a small scale. Form meetings
in Hill House, at which the Council receives feedback and ideas, are great examples of the Councils
outreach. These meetings are an important means of gathering student perspectives on smaller issues. We
are proposing a way for the Student Council to understand the opinion of the Student Body on much
larger issues. This would take the form of an amendment to the constitution of the Student Council that
would permit the Council to hold referendum votes.
The referendum would give the Student Council the power to conduct an official vote of the
Student Body and would provide the Student Body a way to voice official statements of support or dissent
on certain important issues to the administration and the Board of Trustees.
The most important aspect of the referendum is that it must be used extraordinarily sparingly.
Frequent use would diminish its effectiveness. Furthermore, the results of the referendum would be nonbinding there would be no required action. It only exists as an official statement of the Student Body.
We have outlined our official proposal on the following pages.

1. The Referendum as a Collective Statement of the Student Body

a. The referendum will be non-binding. Its result does not require either the Student Council
or the School to take any particular action.
b. The Referendum will be a way for the Student Council to accurately gauge the opinion of
the Student Body on a particular issue.
c. Whether successful or not, the referendum will be an official statement of the majority of
the Student Body and must be officially declared by the Student Council.
2. Proposing a Referendum
a. A referendum may originate from any member(s) of the Student Body, including those
who sit on the Student Council.
b. To propose a referendum, students must write and submit a petition of no less than 200
signatures to show support for their cause and an ability to organize behind it.
c. This petition, and a statement describing the issue to be voted on in the referendum must
be submitted to the Student Council.
3. Consideration of the Referendum
a. The Student Council must consider the referendum if it has received the requisite number
of signatures.
b. In order for the referendum to be held, at least 1/2 of the voting members of the Student
Council must vote in favor of the referendum.
i. If the referendum proposal does not receive at least 1/2 of the votes from the
voting members if the Student Council, it fails.
ii. If at least 1/2 of the voting members of the Student Council vote in support of
holding the referendum, the proper steps to hold the referendum must be put into
action immediately.
4. Holding the Referendum
a. Once at least 1/2 of the voting members of the Student Council vote in favor of holding
the referendum, the Council must hold the vote within a period of one month.
i. A Student Council cannot approve a referendum if it will not be possible for that
Council to hold it before the end of their term.
1. If it is decided that it is impossible for the Student Council of a certain
year to hold a referendum, the consideration of the referendum proposal
must be granted to the next Student Council.
b. The Student Council will be in charge of administering the referendum.

i. The voting procedure should be held to the same standard as when the Student
Body votes on its Student Council Representatives.
1. This procedure includes voter identification and a faculty member
present to ensure that a fair vote is held
c. The rules for polling places are as follows:
i. Polling places must be open for at least one full school day
1. This includes all lunch blocks, after school, and during dinner.
2. The polls should open by 8:00 AM and close by 8:00 PM
ii. When the St. John Hall Student Activities Center opens, polling will be
conducted there. Until then, polling will be conducted in the Hill House Dining
Hall.
5. The Results of the Referendum
a. Once the results of the referendum have been collected and certified by both advisers to
the Student Council and the President and Vice President of the Student Council,
interpreting the meaning of the results will be critical to the referendum process.
b. In order for the referendum to constitute an official statement from the majority of the
Student Body, it must win at least 50% of the votes cast.
c. In order for the Referendum to constitute an official statement from the majority of the
Student Body, voter turnout must be at least 40% of the Student Body.
d. The results of the referendum will be announced on the Student Council Portal page,
social media accounts, and in an all-school email.
6. Campaigning
a. Campaigning will be permitted as part of the referendum process.
i. Unlike Student Council elections, referendums may surround issues that some
Students are less educated about. Campaigning will exist to inform students
about the issue they are voting on.
ii. Unlike Student Council elections, the issue of financial ability to campaign will
not be as pressing; referendums will likely be made up of groups of students who
can campaign together rather than individual students against each other.
b. Campaigning is not permitted at polling places.
c. Members of the Student Council may endorse a side in a referendum. The Student
Council as a whole, however, must remain completely impartial.

A Referendum on Divestment
We understand that it may be impossible for the Student Council to adopt such an amendment to
its constitution immediately without any concrete method to assess it. Therefore, we propose that the
Student Council allow a referendum on fossil fuel divestment.
Fossil fuel divestment is a perfect issue for an initial test run. It is an issue on which the opinion
of the Student Body will be critical going forward, and a referendum vote could be a way for the Board of
Trustees to accurately hear the voice of students. Furthermore, divestment presents the opportunity to test
the waters on the ability of students to actually form a successful campaign that educates the Student
Body and gets students to the polls.
Choate Divest will abide by all of the rules set forth in the referendum proposal in order to ensure
its legitimacy and to help the Student Council see what aspects of the referendum process put in place do
or do not work well.