After discussion about disbanding the current student government’s constitution in favor of a brand-new Associated Students of Madison Constitution at Thursday’s Student Judiciary Committee meeting, the committee decided amendment was the only necessary action.

Based on laws written in the current ASM constitution, an amendment takes effect immediately after it has been passed. Language in the proposed constitution alternatively says the constitution would not take effect until May 1, SJ Chief Justice Trenell Darby said.

Darby added if the brand-new constitution were voted upon and passed, there would be ambiguous guidelines between the vote and May 1.

In this case, the student body would be governed by either contradicting constitutions or no constitutions at all.

“Is there going to be mass anarchy on campus if ASM’s new constitution doesn’t take effect immediately? No,” said Nicholas Niles, SJ associate justice.

Associate Justice Suzie Arndt agreed a new constitution would be the most effective.

“My problem with the term amendment is that it tends to tack onto the end of the last constitution as opposed to the writing inside the document,” Arndt said. “It doesn’t change, it’s stricken, not removed.”

Vice Chief Justice Ben Beduhn alternatively spoke in favor of amending the constitution for fear of disorder in case a brand-new constitution was adopted.

“Since ASM isn’t being overthrown, it’s more of we have problems within our system, so we’re amending the system,” Beduhn said. “We’re not being taken out, we’re imposing the change upon ourselves.”

After concluding the discussion of how the discrepancy would be handled, SJ also established that whatever isn’t amended out of the current constitution will be tagged on to the new constitution. Therefore, the proposed new constitution would be a merger of the two.