AVERY HOUSE CONSTITUTION
FAQ’s About the Constitution Process

	Why do we need a new Constitution?
		The old Constitution will become outdated once Freshmen are picked into Avery next fall.  A new Constitution is needed to provide the framework needed for Avery to deal with this change.  In addition, the Council wishes to make changes to the structure of Avery governance to make it more responsive and reflective of the Members of Avery House.
	
	What is the process by which this new Constitution will be enacted?
		The House deliberation on the Constitution will be divided a number of stages.  The Council has prepared a preliminary draft of the Constitution; the first stage will consist of public comment on this draft by the Members of Avery House.  Based upon this public input, the Council will make revisions resulting in an intermediate draft.  Next, the Members of the House will offer formal, written suggested revisions (called amendments, see question below) to the draft.  All offered amendments will be considered and acted upon by the full body of House Members in a Constitutional Convention.  This will create the final draft of the Constitution.  This final draft will immediately go to vote of the House for ratification; the Council will not be able to alter the Constitution after the close of the Convention.

What is the timetable for this process?
	The public comment period will begin the week of 1/23/05 and last for three weeks.  The intermediate draft will be released during the week of 2/13, and the Constitutional Convention will be sometime over the two following weeks.  The ratification vote will occur before the end of the term (the last day of classes is 3/9).  Note that this timetable is in some cases preliminary and is subject to change or delay.

How will the public comment period be structured?
	There will be three venues provided to encourage discussion of the proposed Constitution:
•	Web forums: At http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~avery/, the Avery bulletin board will have a forum for discussion of Constitution suggestions and issues.
•	Paper forums:  Large sections of butcher paper will be posted in two locations in Avery for people to write in comments on designated sections of the Constitution draft.  These will be rotated each week as described below.
•	Q&A Sessions:  There will be a session before each Council meeting where members of the Avery Council will be available to answer questions and take suggestions and comments about the draft.  These sessions will occur at 5:30 pm on Wednesdays, in the Avery Conference Room (up the stairs as you enter the kitchen area).  Avery members may also remain to attend the regular Council meetings which happen at 6:15 in the Conference Room.
Each week of the public comment period will focus on a certain part of the Constitution.  The two paper forums will each be designated for a specific section of the Constitution, and at the end of the week they will be taken down and replaced with the paper for the new sections for discussion.  In addition, each week’s Q&A sessions will be geared towards that week’s sections of the Constitution.  The schedule is as follows:
Week of 1/23: Preamble, Article I (House Membership), and Article II, sections 1-3 (Avery Council)
Week of 1/30: Article II, sections 4-10 (Avery Officers), and Article III (Elections)
Week of 2/6: Article IV (Roompicks), Article V (Avery Relations), and Article VI (Amendments)

How did the Avery Council decide what to include in the Preliminary Draft?
	The Council has prepared a commentary on the Preliminary Draft (available at http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~avery/council/)  to explain its reasoning and provide the context for this draft.

Why are the public’s suggestions being acted upon by the Avery Council itself to create the Intermediate Draft?
	In the interest of time, the Council will make revisions to the Constitution for which there is a general consensus, so that time and effort does not need to be taken up at the Convention stage.  Keep in mind that changes made at this stage are not final, since the House will still be able to revise the Constitution at the Convention, and thus ultimately have the last say.  The public comment period is intended to bring to light, for example, items that the House feels that should be included in the Constitution but that the Council has not thought of, as general comment on some of the new ideas that the Council has included, or items for which there is a general consensus that a change is needed.

What will happen after the Intermediate Draft is released?
	There will be a period of about one to two weeks whereby House Members will propose written amendments to the draft.  After that, the Constitutional Convention will be held in one or more sessions to act upon these proposed amendments?

What is an “amendment” in the context of the Constitutional Convention?
	The term “amendment” is usually thought of by most people as a postscript added to a document after its enactment, as in the U. S. Constitution.  In parliamentary use, however, an amendment refers to a suggested change in the actual wording of a bill.  These changes are “inline” and actually alter the wording of the document.  For example, an amendment to the Avery Constitution might take one of the following forms:
“I move that Article II, Section 3c be stricken (deleted).”
“I move that the following clause be inserted between Article II, Section 3b and Section 3c: ‘The Avery Council shall have a maximum of seventeen members.’”
“I move that the first sentence of Article IV, Section 2b be stricken and replaced by the following: ‘The Residents and Eligible Non-Resident Members shall pick rooms as a single group in random order.”
You get the picture.

How will amendments be offered?
	House Members will sponsor amendments by submitting them to those organizing the Convention; these will be posted as soon as possible for public discussion.  If two or more people submit amendments to the same effect, the organizers may ask these people to work together in support of the amendment.

How will the Constitutional Convention be structured?
	The organizers of the Convention will prepare the rules for debate, the agenda stipulating the amendments to be considered and the time limits for debate on each, and a Chair to preside over the Convention.  However, all of these will be subject to change by the House at the very beginning of the Convention, before they are adopted by the Convention’s vote.  (Adoption of Rules, Agenda, and Chair is the first item to be considered by the Convention.)
	At the Convention, for each proposed amendment, Avery House Members will make spoken statements for a limited amount of debate time, after which the Members will vote on the amendment.  A majority vote will enact the amendment, incorporating it into the Final Draft.

What will happen after the Convention?
	Once the Final Draft is released, a House vote will be held to ratify the Constitution after a short time for public debate about the final document.  In the current draft, a two-thirds majority vote will be necessary to ratify the Constitution, and the Constitution will become effective immediately upon ratification.

Why does the Final Draft go directly to vote of the House?
	Mistrust of government is the American way.  We want to make sure that the Members of the House themselves have the final say over the content of the Constitution, and so the Constitution draft may not be altered between the close of the Convention and the ratification vote.

What if the Constitution is not ratified?
	There are currently no detailed plans for this contingency.  Since the Constitution contains changes which are vital to Avery’s participation in Rotation and supporting Freshmen, the Constitution would have to go into a new phase of revision and be offered again.  However, this would seriously delay the enactment of the Constitution, likely to the middle of third term.  This would end up displacing some of the House discussion on more practical and technical issues about Rotation and Roompicks and the like, and it would would delay our vote on next year’s Chancellor and other officers until the end of the academic year, providing less time for adequate preparation for next year’s Rotation.

Whom do I contact with further questions or concerns about this process?
	John Sadowski (Avery 143, sadowski@its) is managing the Constitution effort and can answer any questions regarding it.  In addition, you may contact our Chancellor Erik Dreyer (Avery 215, erikd@its), Vice Chancellor Chris Wetzel (Avery 252, wetzel@its), or Secretary Qing Liu (Avery 252, qliu@its).