The constitution was lost, and now it’s found.
The governing document of the Independent Men’s Association (IMA) was misplaced over the course of recent administrations. Current members searched high and low for it but to no avail. So instead, they created a new charter of their very own – a charter that was ratified unanimously Monday, January 25, with the signatures of more than 30 independent men.
Chief among them was junior class representative and new IMA President Christopher Charles Raymond Sidebottom.
With the precision of constitutional scholars and the zeal of ‘60s student radicals, Sidebottom ‘11 and a diverse gang of independent men have taken a giant leap towards a destination that has eluded their predecessors: an active Independent Men’s Association that draws on the disparate nature of its constituents.
“Frankly we were working from something that had been patch-worked together,” Sidebottom said of the constitution, an elusive fabric that tethered together the organization he now leads.
And no one who came to the IMA meetings really thought it was doing anyone any good. This is a way for us to show that we’re starting to do things by changing the fabric of the constitution so we can change the way we do things so we can change the things that we do.”
To put it simply, the ratification of the new IMA constitution is a tangible and conceptual symbol for the larger changes in IMA dynamics Sidebottom and others want to actualize.
The new constitution calls for the IMA President and Vice-President to “relay the interests of the Independent [student] body to the Deans, faculty, staff, student leaders, and all other relevant parties,” to promote and to advocate on improvement for all aspects of Independent life, including dining options, living quarters on- and off -campus, intramural sports, and student life generally.
The misplacing of the previous constitution gave IMA activists like Sidebottom, current Vice President Mike Schenkel, freshmen members like Rudy Altergott and Michael Keve, and senior members like Martindale Resident Assistant (RA) Yousuf Bahrami and outgoing student body President Mark Thomas an opportunity not only to draft a governing structure for the IMA but to alter the function of the organization itself.
“We wanted to make sure we were representing and advocating for every independent on campus in every way that we can,” Sidebottom said, “when they’re in the dorms, and when they’re at Sparks, and doing anything that pertains to the independent experience at Wabash.
“What we as an IMA perceive the IMA to be is a group which facilitates communication and forward movement to bring the disparate aspects of student life together, that is the say the RAs, the administrators, the student senators, and the independents who maybe aren’t involved to make the body more cohesive and ultimately more active with alumni and with events on campus,” Sidebottom said.
This coming together is seen as an essential function in bolstering the independent voice on campus, especially given the fact that the Inter-Fraternity Counsel (IFC) has been so active.
“Rather than being reactive and ultimately antagonistic [to IFC] and saying we’re just not Greek,” Sidebottom said, “we decided a more positive definition, which is slippery footwork. An independent makes the decision to be independent. With that we hope we can compliment and not compete with IFC to more accurately and fully promote the needs and wants of independents on campus.”
Outgoing President Mark Thomas was gratifies by seeing young Wabash men put so much time and effort into building the foundation for a new activism among independent men.
“It was great to see so many interested and active independent men working together toward ratifying the new IMA constitution,” said the senior. “We have needed to rewrite it for some time, and Chris and the rest of the IMA has done a fantastic job with the document.”