LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The ASA Governance Clause
Editor’s Note: The following letter provides background in response to a May 3 article on the Association of Student Activities’ “Governance Clause.” http://tech.mit.edu/V133/N23/asa.html.
The ASA Governance Clause was included as part of a complete rewrite of the ASA constitution in 1987, during my tenure as ASA president. The then-new constitution was adopted by a unanimous vote of the ASA general assembly, with more than 100 activities present and voting. The ASA Governance Clause was a recognition of that fact that student activities cannot use the MIT name, operate on the MIT campus, receive MIT student activities funding, or use MIT student activities space without ASA recognition.
The ASA reviews a student activity’s constitution as part of the recognition process. Student activities that do not satisfy certain requirements, such as more than half of the voting membership being MIT students, may not be recognized by the ASA. Since continued recognition is contingent on the structure of the student activity’s constitution, any changes to that constitution are subject to ASA review. If a student activity changes its constitution in a way that is inconsistent with the ASA rules and regulations, the student activity will lose ASA recognition and all of the privileges that accompany recognition.
Mark Kantrowitz ’89
Former ASA President and Volumes 107-108 Business Manager of The Tech