Policies & Procedures

Recognizing that the CSSA represents a diverse constituency of over 340,000 students, the California State Student Association hereby establishes this policy on dissenting opinions.

• Voting dissenting campuses may submit one Dissenting Opinion Form (.doc) at the conclusion of any vote of the Board of Directors.



• Any Dissenting Opinion Form received shall be distributed along with the resolution/action item at hand to the distribution list specified in the resolution. If no distribution list is specified, it shall be distributed, along with the resolution, to all standard parties (the Board of Trustees, Legislature, etc.).



• A Dissenting Opinion Form shall be included in each year's Reference Manual. This Form will include a space for:
  • The name of the campus(s) requesting a Dissenting Opinion Form
  
  
  
  • The resolution or action in question
  
  
  
  • A brief rationale for submitting the Dissenting Opinion
  
  
  
  • The Dissenting Opinion and reference to limited supporting documents


• In order to provide adequate time for the Executive Committee and staff to distribute the opinion, a campus should notify the chair verbally of its intent to file, before the conclusion of the conference. At the latest, staff must receive the Dissenting Opinion Form no later than noon of the next day after the conclusion of the conference so that it can be distributed with the resolution in question. If a Dissenting Opinion Form is received after this deadline, it is not guaranteed to be distributed.



• Additionally, the scope of this policy should focus only on highly divisive issues, and the Policy shall sunset after one year of being implemented.

 » Dissenting Opinion Form (.pdf)