Leadership students voted last month to change the organization’s constitution, altering the requirements for becoming ASB president or vice president.

Under the new constitution, amended March 5,  anyone who wants to run for ASB president or vice president must be a senior and have at least one year of experience in leadership or student government prior to running for the position.

ASB treasurer junior Zara Minwalla said the changes are a safeguard to prevent inexperienced people from having such important positions.

“You need someone with experience,” Minwalla said. “Just because they’re popular doesn’t mean they deserve it.”

Other students outside the two leadership classes also agree with the change and believe that someone with that much power should have experience with leadership.

“I think it makes sense,” said junior Joe Laux. “If you want a leadership role, you should have to meet certain requirements.”

Leadership students said the amendment process did not involve any input from the student body.  Both leadership classes discussed the amendment for a month and then approved it with a vote requiring a two-thirds majority.

Leadership adviser Scott Corso explained the class would not be able to accomplish anything if they checked all proposals and changes with every student on campus.

The constitution reads that leadership may conduct a school wide vote to measure student opinion on an issue, but this was not discussed in this case.

Corso and other leadership officers said they were confident that most students would agree with the amendment.

But some students think the change is unfair. Sophomore Belle Goodson believes students should get the opportunity to vote for the leaders they want.

“[The change] filters out a whole bunch of people who don’t have the scheduling,” said Goodson. “They might be really good, but they don’t have the time.”

Math teacher Jean Dillman agrees.

“Someone with a heavy academic load may be an excellent choice, but doesn’t have the room in their schedule,” said Dillman.

As a part of the process to join leadership, an application and an interview with a panel of seniors and Corso are required. Former leadership students also must interview again each year, Minwalla said.

Next year’s leadership students will be selected by April 25.  ASB and class elections will be held in mid-May.

It not known how many, if any, students will be affected by the change.

Junior Neel Baronia thinks the change will limit the applicant pool to only those people leadership wants. He believes that this allows leadership to monopolize power in the organization.

“I feel it’s really strange, given that elections are about choosing who the people want and given the situation where someone is unanimously elected they wouldn’t be given that position,” said Baronia.

Leadership secretary  Molly Williams defended the amendment and believes it is just.

“They’d rather have someone experienced in leadership to be in such a high position,” said Williams, a senior.

Corso recently placed the leadership constitution on grizzlynation.net and the Cal High web page under student resources.

“We want to be as transparent as possible,” said Corso.