The CU student government is filling appellate court positions.
In CUSG the Appellate Court represents the judicial branch. According to the CUSG website, the court is comprised of seven justices who are responsible for submitting the final decision on questions that deal with constitutional interpretation of the CUSG Constitution.
CUSG decided on the positions last Friday; however, the results have yet to be released to the public.
CUSG President William Taylor, a 22-year-old senior political science and English major, said the positions are just now being filled because CUSG wanted to give students time to adjust to school, hoping that more students would then apply.
“The positions are being filled now because we wanted to allow for a greater number of students to be available on campus for applying and for the fall semester to progress enough that students would know whether or not they have the time to commit to the court and to allow them enough time to settle into the new academic year,” Taylor said.
Chelsea Schlarbaum, an 18-year-old freshman studio arts major, said she didn’t even know CUSG had an Appellate Court.
“I’ve never, ever, ever heard of that, but I think it’s important that CUSG has a court,” Schlarbaum said.
Only six positions are available because one of the justices is returning from last year’s court, Taylor said.
According to the CUSG website, the seven justices only meet when a question arises for decision. Taylor said that because of this being an Appellate Court justice is an essentially nonpaying job.
“They very rarely receive hourly wages or salary,” Taylor said. “They are only paid when they convene and the infrequency of these meetings results in virtually no pay during the term of the average Appellate Court Justice.”
Nonetheless, Taylor said that even though the Court may only meet once every two or three years, having a court is necessary.
“The Appellate Court Justices are very important because they constitute the Judicial branch of the University of Colorado Student Government,” Taylor said. “It is necessary to have a functioning court to ensure that the CUSG Constitution and various by-laws are upheld.”
Taylor said the only prerequisite for applying for the position is that the applicant must be a full fee-paying student at CU-Boulder.
All students are permitted to apply, said Taylor. However, CUSG would prefer sophomores or juniors because a student holds the position until they graduate from CU-Boulder.
“Freshmen and seniors can apply,” Taylor said. “We discouraged freshmen from applying because we wanted more mature and experienced students and we are not looking for seniors because we want students who can sit on the court for longer than the roughly six months remaining in the school year.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Lindsay Wilcocks at Lindsay.wilcocks@colorado.edu.
